ARMIDALE trainer Stirling Osland bookended the eight-race card at Moree on cup day with a winning double.

Miler-in-the-making Suit Day opened the meeting with a dominant win in the 1400m Moree Services Club Maiden Plate and track specialist Leica Model brought down the curtain on a history-laden day with a last-to-first win in the 1300m McGregor Gourlay BM-58 Handicap.

Lightly-raced four-year-old Suit Day ($4.40) came with a well-timed run under Cassey Williams to score by three-quarters of a length from Santos El Halper ($6.50) and More Elements ($7).

Osland said Suit Day would only get better as the distances get longer.

“He’s only a lightly-raced horse, with a couple placings from only four starts prior to today,” Osland said.

“We’ve had a couple of hoof problems with him and he went to the paddock after a really good run at Inverell last prep.

“He’s come through this prep really well and I think he’s still got a lot of improvement in him after being first-up with no trial today.

“I think he’ll be a better horse when we get him to the mile,” he said.

Leica Model ($2.50fav), a five-year-old mare by Darci Brahma, kept her perfect record on the Moree track intact when Mikayla Weir sliced through the field to win by nearly two lengths from Magic Flyer ($3.70) and Wanda River ($10).

“We won at the August meeting and knew it was three-and-a-half weeks to this race, but she always runs well fresh and she races well at this track, so we didn’t have a problem with the break between runs,” Osland said.

“She was actually coming back 100 metres in distance as well, and she freshened up nicely. That’s three from three now at Moree. Hopefully, we might be back next year for the cup,” he said.

Suit Dat wins easily for Stirling Osland and Cassey Williams at Moree on Sunday (Image Copyright).

Osland also started Point Counterpoint first-up in the 1400m  Graysonline Moree Cup. The gelding finished seventh, beaten three-and-a-quarter lengths.

Point Counterpoint won the transferred Moree Cup at Tamworth in 2022 as well as last year’s Ballina Cup.

“He was carrying plenty of weight today and he’s being targeted at the Lismore Cup in four weeks’ time,” Osland said.

“He’ll improve a lot off that run as we head towards Lismore.”

Meanwhile, Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm and a huge ownership group made an instant return on their investment when Te Pani easily won the $50,000 Showcase Maiden Handicap (950m) on Sunday.

Three-kilo claimer Zoe Hunt gave Te Pani plenty of rein in the straight and the heavily-backed $3 favourite responded like a good horse to win by a widening four lengths from Hollywood Gold ($4.80) and Vivie’s Gaze ($26).

“We bought this horse from the Annabelle Neasham team. She was a $25,000 buy and we’ve won a $50,000 maiden, which is a great result for the new owners. We’ve nearly got ourselves a free horse,” Lundholm laughed.

“Zoe rode her an absolute treat. Our intention was to lead early over the short distance and see how strong she was late. She was even stronger at the finish, which was good to see. She’s a nice filly going forward.”

Hunt said Te Pani did it easily.

“We pinged the lids and when I got to the lead I was pretty confident she would be hard to run down,” Hunt said.

“She had a five-day freshen-up in the paddock and I think the let-up really helped.”

Words and Image: Bill Poulos