Kim Waugh’s troublesome Trumbull was on his best behaviour at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, able to score a deserving stakes’ win to finish off a testing preparation in the 2020 Civic Stakes.

Trumbull was too good late for his rivals in the 2020 Civic Stakes at Rosehill. Photo: Steve Hart.

The Darci Brahma four-year-old became a notoriously poor jumper displaying bad barrier behaviour all campaign much to Wyong trainer Waugh’s dismay, but jockey Tommy Berry was able to get the gelding to behave for his grand final in the Listed $150,000 Civic Stakes (1350m).

Along with tardy jumps, Trumbull’s autumn – winter pep had also been marred by luckless runs in transit, including getting caught in traffic for his last start second to True Detective on June 13 in a Benchmark 94.

He atoned in the Civic Stakes however, pinging the gates for Berry and moving nicely into stride on the outside up into fourth the fence throughout as the Godolphin-raced favourite Home Of The Brave showed the way.

Trumbull ($6) travelled beautifully in fourth throughout, getting up on the inside once on the straight to hit the front at the 150m and draw a length clear on the line from the Chris Waller-trained Order Again ($6).

In third to round out the Civic Stakes trifecta just a neck further back was the fellow Waller-trained Dealmaker ($7) who, like his second-placed stablemate, just didn’t have the sprint to hold off Trumbull having been brought back from a mile race last start.

Waugh confirmed it was now off to the paddock for her Civic Stakes winner Trumbull who she described as “a tough boy”.

“I can’t believe it, we’ve had such a frustrating run with him this whole preparation,” she said.

“He’s developed this silly habit. But we’ve given him a bit of barrier practice at home.

“That’s what he can do…he just learnt that silly habit (in the barriers).

“It would be a really good confidence for him today.

“He just needed luck and he really does deserve this.

“He’s had a lot of runs this prep and he just keeps backing up, he’s a tough boy.

“He’s done my head in the last six weeks, but honestly it’s a big thrill when you put so much work into them…and you finally get a result for the owners.”

2020 Civic Stakes Results

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	8	TRUMBULL (NZ)	Kim Waugh	Tommy Berry		7	54kg		$6
	2	4	ORDER AGAIN (NZ)	Chris Waller	Sam Clipperton	1L	5	55kg		$9
	3	5	DEALMAKER	Chris Waller	Brenton Avdulla	1.2L	1	54.5kg		$7
	4	1	HOME OF THE BRAVE (IRE)	James Cummings	Kerrin McEvoy	3.2L	2	60.5kg		$5.50F
	5	11	OUTRAGEOUS	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	James Innes Jnr	4.1L	3	54kg		$13
	6	3	SAMBRO	Chris Waller	James McDonald	4.3L	9	55.5kg		$7
	7	13	SMARTEDGE	Peter & Paul Snowden	Andrew Adkins	5.7L	6	53kg		$41
	8	14	TORYJOY	Chris Waller	Ms Rachel King	6.2L	11	53kg		$18
	9	12	ROMANI GIRL (NZ)	Chris Waller	Robbie Dolan (a)	7.5L	8	53kg		$31
	10	2	CRACK ME UP (NZ)	Bjorn Baker	Tim Clark	8.3L	4	59kg		$6
	11	9	MUSHAIREB (GB)	Richard & Michael Freedman	Adam Hyeronimus	9.8L	10	54kg (cd 54.5kg)		$17
		7	SURE KNEE	Chris Waller	Jason Collett		0
		10	ONSLAUGHT	Peter & Paul Snowden	Jean Van Overmeire (a)		0
		6	SPECIAL MISSILE	Richard & Michael Freedman	Glen Boss		0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.