Five heats of the Group Two Casey Steel Cranbourne Cup were run and won tonight at Cranbourne as the fourth and final leg of the Gippsland Carnival kicked off.
With $67,000 in prize money on offer in the final which will be run on Saturday 10 February, only the winners and three fastest second place getters will have a chance at group glory.
In the opening heat, Up Hill Jill started as the favourite from box number eight and showed her customary early speed clocking 5.37sec to the first mark. Local He Shall Johnny stuck to the rails to shadow the 2018 Topgun winner. Cosmic Tilly and Rapanui Reveller battled it out for third and fourth placing respectively. Up Hill Jill stopped the clock in 30.193sec.
It was almost a rerun of last week’s Traralgon Cup between Poke The Bear and Monster Fish. Like last week, Monster Fish was the early leader with Poke The Bear doing the chasing. Riveting put in a run to remember to finish third after finding himself in last position before powering home wearing the blue rug.
Heat number three saw Maurice Minor make it through his first Victorian Country Cup after taking advantage of minor trouble on the first turn between Hecton Bale and Beanbag. It wasn’t an all the way win for Maurice Minor, who ran down a leading Immen Bale to win by 5.99 lengths in a time of 30.089sec. Beanbag who was caught up in trouble on the first turn finished sixth.
After finishing third in the Traralgon Cup last start, Reckoning made it through to another leg of the Gippsland Carnival winning heat four of the Cranbourne Cup. Reckoning set himself up perfectly to win, jumping well and camping on the rail. Runner up Mars Rising had work to do out of the boxes but was strong in running down In A Spin and getting within 0.44 lengths of Reckoning in a time of 30.165sec.
Gippsland boy Jesaulenko started favourite in the fifth and final heat of the Cranbourne Cup. Jumping from box eight Jesaulenko worked the outside of the track with second favourite Mossimo Bale on his inside. It stayed a two-dog race between the pair as they expanded their lead to almost ten lengths over local He Shall Fred with Mossimo Bale ending up on top.
