KYNETON'S George Osborne has always had an affinity with Bendigo Cup day, stretching back to his days training horses in Queensland.
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He even has a permanent reminder of his first Bendigo Cup day win nearly 20 years ago - a pair of binoculars.
A handy addition to the first prize purse, the binoculars have continued to serve Osborne well to this day.
"In the old days they used to have a two-day Bendigo Cup Carnival, which was a long time ago now, and I bought some horses down from Queensland," he said.
"I won a couple of races and one of the races I won had a trophy, which was a set of binoculars.
"It was 20-years ago, but I still use them.
"They sit in the back of the car, but when I go to the trials I use them. They're a bit rough now, but they still work."
Despite plenty of success on Cup day over the years, Osborne has not produced a winner the last few years.
He hopes to rectify that on Wednesday.
Osborne will have only one runner at this year's Cup meeting, the promising five-year-old Chase Award, who is second-up from a spell, and looking for his third career win.
He said the gelding had never disappointed once in his previous nine starts.
"He's a beautiful horse; he gives everything he's got every time he goes to the races, so that gives him a good chance straight away," Osborne said.
"I was tossing up between this race and a race Friday night at Moonee Valley, but we've decided that he is on the better race track. When Bendigo is in good condition, every horse gets its chance.
"The luck of the draw and the luck of racing at Moonee Valley can be very fickle, so we've decided to go Wednesday.
"He's only had the one run back, he ran second and got home very late at Echuca first up.
My only question mark is whether 1100m is too short, but from the barrier she should be about midfield I reckon.
"John Allen is riding and the horse has won two races and he was riding both times, so it's a good formula."
Osborne heads to Cup day with plenty of momentum following a win apiece at St Arnaud on Sunday with Legless Nick and Echuca on Monday with Uptown Lola.
Those victories followed a gratifying second with Osborne's veteran campaigner Reine Happy in last Friday's $125,000 Benalla Cup.
The nine-year-old could not have been more gallant in finishing within a half-a-length of the much younger Harlech, whose previous start was at Group 1-level in the $500,000 Toorak Handicap at Caulfield.
Osborne could not be prouder of Reine Happy, who has continued to get better with age.
"He's been a marvel and is still racing as good as ever," he said.
"He's nine-years-old, but he was actually the winningest horse in Victoria last year; he won seven races and no horse won more than him.
"We were all cheering him home on Friday, but I think class rose to the top. The winner, on his best form, is running in Group races, so he was entitled to run us down."
A busy nine days for Osborne finds him with potential runners at Bendigo on Wednesday, Cranbourne on Thursday, Kilmore and Moonee Valley on Friday, and Traralgon on Saturday, ahead of a strong complement of contenders at next Wednesday's Kyneton Cup meeting.
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