Improving five-year-old Albert The Fat has claimed victory in the opening Group 1 race of the Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival, narrowly winning the $400,000 BTC Cup (1200m) in a gripping finish at Doomben on Saturday.

History was nearly made as Melito came within a nose of being the first filly to take out the BTC Cup since it became a weight-for-age event in 1991.

But in the final strides Albert The Fat ($21) caused an upset beating the Gerald Ryan-trained Melito ($5.50) by a nose with another outsider, Bart Cumming’s promising colt Latin News ($17) just a long neck back in third.

In one of the closest BTC Cup finishes in history, there was just over four lengths separating all 12 horses in the Group 1 feature, with the pre-race favourite Ortensia ($2.90) running a gallant fifth just  one and a half lengths away from the winner.

Runner-up Meltio was impressive and with an extra 100m is likely to have surged forward to win. The Redoute’s Choice filly will be better suited to the $650,000 Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m) on Saturday May 29, as will the Tony Noonan-trained Ortensia.

Albert The Fat will also have his next start in the Doomben 10,000 in a fortnight before a possible run in the most prestigious race of the Brisbane carnival, the $1 million Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday June 12.

Albert The Fat was ridden by Damian Browne, who has had his riding career marred by leg injuries over the last few years, in the jockey’s biggest career win.

Trained by Eden Petrie at Canungra, Magic Albert gelding Albert The Fat has now won 10 of his 20 career starts with Saturday’s BTC Cup prizemoney elevating his total earnings to $544,525.

The other two feature races at Doomben on Saturday were the $125,000 Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2020m) where hot favourite Blueys Way finished fourth to The Hombre, and the $100,000 Group 3 Chairman’s Handicap (2020m) won by Crossthestart who was one of champion hoop Chris Munce’s hat-trick of winners at the meeting yesterday.

To view the detailed results of these races visit Doomben.com.au.

This Saturday the Brisbane racing action continues at Doomben with the Kirks Doomben Cup day featuring the $500,000 Group 1 Doomben Cup (2020m).

[iasbet] have early betting markets open now for the Doomben Cup so jump in now to secure the best odds at [iasbet].

2010 BTC Cup Results

Place	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	SP	Margin
1	ALBERT THE FAT	Eden Petrie	D Browne	$21	–
2	MELITO	Gerald Ryan	B Shinn	$5.50	0.1
3	LATIN NEWS	Bart Cummings	M J Cahill	$17	0.5
4	MIC MAC	Paul Messara	S Scriven	$7.50	0.7
5	ORTENSIA	Tony Noonan	H Bowman	$2.90F	1.5
6	KING MUFHASA (NZ)	Stephen Mckee	Ms S C Spratt	$21	2.8
7	SET FOR FAME	Peter G Moody	L Nolen	$10	3.0
8	SHELLSCRAPE	Chris Waller	S Katsidis	$8	3.2
9	RUSSETING	Bart Cummings	C J Grylls	$41	3.6
10	GHETTO BLASTER	Gillian Heinrich	L Cassidy	$15	3.9
11	SISTER MADLY	Anthony Cummings	J Byrne	$17	4.1
12	MONTON	Tim Martin	T Angland	$11	4.3