LEADING Kyneton trainer George Osborne gave locals plenty to cheer about by dominating his hometown cup meeting on Wednesday.
Osborne produced a treble of winners on the nine race program in the standout training performance on $125,000 Kyneton Cup day.
He was unlucky not to finish with four winners, after the favourite Gasworx was narrowly beaten into second place by a fast-finishing Ocean's Fourteen in the day's final event.
Osborne put the writing on the wall for a big day ahead when the five-year-old mare Bella broke through for a long overdue win at her 19th start in race number two.
The astute trainer struck again two races later with Uptown Lily becoming the first of two Osborne-trained winners for jockey Linda Meech.
The treble was complete when Osborne quinellad race six with the five-year-old mare Salty Kisses prevailing over his stablemate Reine Happy.
It was a massive return for Osborne, who had eight runners on cup day, most of then beautifully placed in their respective races.
"They just looked obvious races for my horses, the way they have been running and working into it," said Osborne following the victory of Salty Kisses.
"It's probably been well documented the last few years, we haven't had the spring horses, so we have just kept quiet, worked hard and waited for the spring horses to move on and away we go.
"Summer is our time."
Osborne said Salty Kisses had been 'beautifully rated out in front' by Meech, who ended the day with a treble after landing the winner of race one for 2019 Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Danny O'Brien aboard November Dreaming.
"I was very happy to see the two (of my horses) coming down the straight together, I wasn't quite sure if Reine Happy could pick her up," he said.
"But she was really good today, really strong."
Meanwhile, the father-son training combination of Mick and Luke Cerchi will head to Saturday's $300,000 Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington full of confidence with Midterm, after the gelding's last-stride Kyneton Cup win.
The seven-year-old, with Patrick Moloney in the saddle, nailed Double You Tee on the line to win by less than a length, with a weakening Pacodali holding on for third.
The lone horse trained in the region, Penny To Sell finished ninth in the 10-horse field.
Mick Cerchi could not hide his delight at sharing such an important with his son.
"He's a great kid and he's a hard worker, so this is great," Mick said of Luke.
"This horse is not easy. Luke's got a few battle scars on him from this horse biting him, he's a bit of a bugger.
"But he's the future. We're lucky we've got great owners and winning a race like this will give them a bit more confidence to buy a few more old horses for us to muck around with."
Trainer of Penny To Sell, Mick Sell said his mare had simply failed to fire when the pace quickened.
"Once (jockey Michael Walker) pressed the buttons, she didn't go - it was just one of those days she didn't go through her gears," he said.
"We will see how she pulls up, but we will probably now look at the cup she won last year, the Dunkeld Cup in a week and a half, and hopefully she is in the money again.
"The winner was way too good."
Sutton Grange trainer Brent Stanley kept the momentum going for his stable with an 1850m win with Garbhan.
The six-year-old gelding success came on the heels on an eye-catching Listed race fourth with the three-year-old filly It's Kind Of Magic at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day.
"I'm glad we got over the line, it looked like we were going to yesterday but just got nabbed late," Stanley said.
"He needed a win. He's got a lot of ability the horse.
"Recovering from a lung injury it's taken a while to get fit, but now he has his confidence back, hopefully he can go on with it."
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