JENNY Steepe doesn’t get home to Moree very often, and the trip from Tamworth at the weekend with husband Kel Penfold was bittersweet for two reasons.

Tavros, a horse they part-own with a syndicate that includes trainer Craig Martin, chased hard in the straight to decisively win the 1400m Agri Storage and Logistics Moree Cup – but Jenny and her sister, Julie, had an important chore to do for their late mum, Rhonda, before heading to the track on Sunday.

“When we nominated Tavros for the Moree Cup, we really wanted to be here to put our mum’s ashes in the wall at the cemetery. I organised a plaque and came out to see Julie, and we did that before we came to the races,” Jenny smiled.

And it seems Rhonda may have played her part in Sunday’s win as well, with top hoop Jake Pracey-Holmes calling on help to angle Tavros – backed from $3 into $2.15 favouritism – from a seemingly impossible spot in the straight to win Moree Race Club’s signature race by a length from Marc Quinn’s Auzstar ($13).

Jo Methven’s Mungindi Cup winner, Better Tomorrow ($14), ran the race of its life to finish third, a short-neck away.

Proud owners Jenny Steepe and Kel Penfold holding the Agri Storage and Logistics Moree Cup and sponsors after winning Moree Race Club’s signature race on Sunday.

“It’s lovely to win a hometown cup, and this is actually the first time I’ve been on-course when one of our horses has won a cup race,” Jenny said.

“We won the Gilgandra Cup with Devilgate Road in 2015 but weren’t there, and won the Tuncurry Cup and Lismore Cup with Tavion Prince in 2020 during Covid, so we weren’t allowed to be on track,” she said.

Winning hoop Jake Pracey-Holmes said Tavros was very impressive.

“I was a bit worried when we were worse than midfield and on the back of some horses – I didn’t think they’d take me into the race,” Pracey-Holmes said.

“At one point, we were spotting the leaders at least eight lengths, but when the splits came, he really put on a good turn of foot – it really surprised me.

“He’s a horse that will probably get 2000m, and a horse that will win a few more yet – he’s definitely up to Brisbane class,” he said.

Trainer Craig Martin, who won the Moree Cup 20 years ago with Saranac, drew on all his skills to get Tavros to the Moree Cup first-up after a stop-start preparation that was being aimed at the rich Grafton Carnival.

“He raced first-up over 1200m and won that pretty well. We were going to Grafton with him, but he injured himself one morning during trackwork and had a bit of inflammation around his tendon,” Martin said.

“There was no damage done, but we backed off and he spent a fortnight in his box. I got him going again, but didn’t know where to go until I was here at the last meeting and saw you (this writer) walking around with the Moree Cup,” he laughed.

“I thought, gee, that race must be coming up soon so I trialled him. He went well, and that’s why I’m here.”

Jake Pracey-Holmes brings Agri Storage and Logistics Moree Cup winner Tavros back to scale on Sunday.

Martin said Tavros can only get better as the races get longer, and has his sights on the 2000m Country Classic at Rosehill Gardens in late November.

“Winning the Moree Cup was a good effort, and I’m really happy with him,” Martin said.

“He’s gone from a class three win to win in open company, and he’ll only improve. He wants a mile, and the focus this prep has been to always get him up to 2000 metres.

“Ideally, long-term, there’s the Country Classic in Sydney, and I’d love to give him a crack at that.

“Also, there are plenty of good cup races coming up – Tuncurry is a bit of an option as well as Lismore, and there’s also Coonabarabran and Coonamble.

“He had 10 weeks off and won the Moree Cup over 1400m first-up, so the further he runs the better he’ll go,” he said.

Martin said a campaign in Brisbane is also an option leading up to the Country Classic, a race for country-trained horses, won last year by Matt Dunn’s Belvedere Boys.

“I’ll sit down and have a look where we go next,” Martin said.

“The plan was to go to Brisbane after Grafton, and that’s still a plan. I’d like to give him a crack at them up there and the prize money is not too bad,” he said.

Words and Images: Bill Poulos