Gifted Warrior hands Pingrup Cup success to trainer Roy Rogers at rescheduled country meeting held in Albany

Gifted Warrior repaid the faith of trainer Roy Rogers with a slashing victory in the $12,000 Murray Reid Memorial Pingrup Cup (1600m) on Saturday. COVID-19 restrictions initially forced the cancellation of the historic Pingrup races back in March, but Albany Racing Club made its track available for the small scale Pingrup Race Club to still hold the popular event. The six-race Pingrup card was held at Percy Spencer Racecourse and it was Rogers who emerged victorious in the feature race. Well supported in betting to jump a $2.10 favourite, Gifted Warrior settled last in the field of six for apprentice jockey Austin Galati but produced a terrific sprint home to win easily. Galati pounced on his rivals at the top of the home straight and skipped clear, winning by more than six lengths on the line. The seven-year-old gelding has been with Rogers since May last year but the dominant win ended a frustrating run, with setbacks and bad-barrier manners hampering his race results. “He’s been a bit frustrating,” Rogers said. “We tightened his work up in the last couple of weeks and his run prior to that was really good. “We set him for that race because he’d been disappointing with his barrier manners. “The kid rode him well and handled him well in the gates and I knew if he got into the barrier he would be hard to beat.” It was Gifted Warrior’s first win since joining the Rogers stable and came on the back of running a strong fourth behind stablemate Artie’s Comet in Albany earlier this month. Crossaro, for Albany trainer Rebecca Wallrodt, ran second in the cup and last year’s winner Greco finished in third place. Tenterden jockey Jessica Gray finished with a winning double at the meeting after booting home Friar The Gun and Carmurlea. The Wallrodt-prepared Friar The Gun did her best work at the finish to race down the outside and grab Meteor Light and Rock Of Kaha in race three and win by nearly two lengths. Carmurlea won her first race in the colours of trainer Paul Hunter after coming from third on the home turn to win by two lengths. The Steve Wolfe-trained Oxbridge got the nod in a thrilling finish to the See You Next Year At Pingrup 2023 Handicap (1500m), blousing out Brave Contender by a short half-head. Any Given Time led all the way to claim the Elders Insurance Katanning Handicap (1240m) with rider Kayla Cross in the saddle, while Albany galloper Take Me There defeated Polo King in the Pingrup Silo Art Maiden (1240m) for trainer Tim Stone and jockey Kate Southam.