In an upset result in Perth overnight, Grant Williams’ evergreen veteran galloper Lords Ransom beat home a quality field of stayers to take out the XXXX Gold Bunbury Cup 2012 in what has turned out to be their swansong race.
For bookmaker.com.au punters that went out on a limb with the rising nine-year-old Jeune gelding it was a big pay day as the injury-plaged Lords Ransom won their first race since the 2010 Perth Cup.
Ridden expertly by great local hoop Peter Hall, $17 chance and Lords Ransom improved leaps and bounds on their first-up fifth in the AHA Cup (2019m) at the track on March 4 to become a dual Bunbury Cup winner.
Lords Ransom also won the 2008 Bunbury Cup when at the peak of their career, that victory coming after the AHA Cup win and followed by the Pinjarra Cup victory that year.
It was a blow-out 2012 Bunbury Cup Trifecta as well as Lords Ransom came from near last on the turn to run down and beat home the Ivan Haggerty-trained Big Ted ($26) by a handsome two and a quarter lengths while $51 roughie of the field Lorve crossed just another quarter length away for third.
Race favourite Rosie Rocket ($3.30), who beat Lords Ransom last start when winning the AHA Cup, was far from disgraced crossing three lengths off the winner in fourth.
Big Ted looked the winner with around 600-metres left of last night’s Bunbury Cup with experienced jockey Danny Miller pushing them to a nearly unbeatable six length lead.
But Lords Ransom didn’t give up and swooped wide to gun them down and earn his retirement.
The winning effort from Lords Ransom, who will likely bow out having won 10 of their 26 career starts for a tidy $803,745 in prize money, was made even more impressive by the fact they were the 59.5kg topweight of the field.
“It was nearly as good as when he won it last time and went right around the whole field,” owner-breeder Bob Peters said.
“He’s been a good horse. He’s probably earned his retirement.”
The Perth racing action continues this Saturday with Ascot Racecourse to host a bumper meeting headlined by five Listed features.
Check out the full Bunbury Cup results below, then head to our preferred online bookie bookmaker.com.au for all the Ascot racing odds for this Saturday and clean up with your weekend wagers!
2012 XXXX Gold Bunbury Cup Finishing Order & Results
Bunbury Race 9 – 5:00pm – 15/03/2012
| Place | # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Br. | Wgt. | Hcp. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | LORDS RANSOM | Grant Williams | Peter Hall | – | 12 | 59.5kg | $17 |
| 2 | 8 | BIG TED | Ivan Haggerty | Danny Miller | 2.25L | 9 | 54kg | $26 |
| 3 | 9 | LOVRE | Matt Daqui | Clint Harvey | 2.5L | 2 | 54kg | $51 |
| 4 | 7 | ROSIE ROCKET | Justin Warwick | Shaun Meeres | 3L | 6 | 55kg | $3.30 |
| 5 | 13 | SUPER HAWK | Mark Bairstow | Glenn Smith | 3.5L | 7 | 54kg | $17 |
| 6 | 4 | KERRIFIC | Bruce Watkins & Gary Hitchcock | Paul Harvey | 3.5L | 4 | 56.5kg | $7 |
| 7 | 11 | MOONLIGHT BAY | Grant Williams | William Pike | 4L | 1 | 54kg | $8 |
| 8 | 3 | BATTLE EMBLEM | Grant Williams | Ms Kyra Yuill (a) | 4.5L | 8 | 58kg | $7 |
| 9 | 12 | SMART TWISTER | Neville Parnham | Brad Parnham | 5L | 10 | 54kg | $21 |
| 10 | 5 | PEG’S PRIDE | Michael Morton | Peter Knuckey | 6.75L | 3 | 56.5kg | $5.50 |
| 11 | 2 | GUYNO (NZ) | Lou Luciani & Dion Luciani | Jason Whiting | 8.75L | 11 | 59kg | $16 |
| 12 | 6 | NEW SPICE | Elva Van Merwyk | Campbell Mc Callum | 13.5L | 5 | 55.5kg | $41 |
| – | 10 | MCTANGO | Rob G Smith | Steven Parnham | – | 13 | – | – |
