IN THE normal course of events, Bendigo trainer Daryn Drust and Cooter Cha Cha would likely not have been in Horsham on Saturday.
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Drust's undoubted preference was to run his six-year-old gelding in a benchmark 58 event at Echuca on Monday.
But with Victorian country field sizes currently restricted to a maximum of 12 runners due to coronavirus protocols, Cooter Cha Cha ended up as the race's sixth emergency.
It proved a stroke of good fortune with the Drust-trained stayer prevailing over 1800m at Horsham to notch up his fourth career win at start number 32.
"You are always happy to get a win, and I'm especially happy for all my owners," the trainer said.
"Horsham wasn't exactly our race of preference, we didn't think we'd get a run at Echuca and we wouldn't have, so Horsham was our B plan.
"Luckily, B plan worked out well.
"Christine Puls got the ride on him because our regular rider Jason Baldock had a ride already, which was a bit of bad luck for him, but Christine rode the horse perfectly and did well for us."
The win was the gelding's first since his 2050m success at Wodonga last September and came third-up from a spell.
"We gave him a fair break this time, he had three months out and he's come back a bigger and stronger horse," Drust said.
"We knew as soon as we brought him back in we were going to have a better preparation with him, so far it has panned out that way.
"(Echuca) was going to be a 2100m race - he's already had a run at this distance this preparation.
"To be honest, there's not much racing for staying type horses, who are (benchmark) 58 or 64 rated, so we had to drop back to the 1800m just to give the horse a run.
"Otherwise, we could have been going two weeks, or we could have been going five weeks without a run.
"He's probably up and going a month earlier than he normally would have been, but it's worked out well."
Cooter Cha Cha, who is named after a dance style, is the only horse Drust currently has in work at his Bendigo stable, which is located directly opposite the Bendigo racecourse.
"I do have four young ones I am breaking in at the moment, so that should keep me busy," he said.
A benchmark 64 event at Swan Hill next Monday looms as a potential next target for Cooter Cha Cha.
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