The champion trainer's first venture to the north coast was in 2011 when Old Bill took the trophy and regular visits have resulted in a further two victories in the years leading up to the recent running.

The domination continued when Our Intrigue was able to arrest the lead from stablemate and early leader, Achiever, with the daughter of Showcasing narrowly surviving the late challenge by Nemingah to collect the lion's share of the massive prizemoney offered.

The result was further vindication for the judgement of Waller, with both horses bypassing the metropolitan meeting at Randwick to concentrate on the Port Cup campaign with happy results.

Nemingah was responsible for another honest performance with the Edward O'Rourke trained gelding now placed second in his four recent outings including the Lismore and Port Macquarie Cups.

Achiever did all the bullocking work in front and fought on well to claim third with Unamerican ridden a perfect race after settling just off the pace before Winona Costin angled the gelding off the rails around the home bend to finishing a creditable fourth.

Fantastic Baby had automatic entry for the event following victory in the prelude and ran a solid race while Fast Talking attracted plenty of support before finishing sixth.

The $80,000 Birdon Group Sprint was an exciting finish with the Greg McFarlane trained gelding, Liberty Sun, able to withstand the finishing burst of Charmmebaby and Top Me Up Again to land the prize.

The son of Statue of Liberty was inclined to over race in the initial stages before Louise Day allowed the son of Statue of Liberty more rein before claiming the lead over Dual Escape in the home straight.

With Charmmebaby and Top Me Up Again storming home down the crown of the track, Liberty Sun was able to grip on for an emphatic win in the feature sprint on the program.

La Jolie Fille attracted plenty of support at value prices and the Paul Perry trained mare was able to arrest the lead from Big Surprise down the home running to land the Fastplast Building Supplies Hastings Cup over Chase My Crown and Prima Stella.

Miss Laquetta was backed into firm favouritism for the opening event following an impressive Scone debut but was no match for the early speed of Thunder Rose.

The Rod Bailey trained mare was taken straight to the lead by Darryl McLellan and dictated terms before scoring by two lengths over Miss Laquetta, who made up good ground, with In Hot Water running a creditable third after missing the start.

Olympic Time led throughout to claim the second race while Freddie Eddie was positioned on the pace by Amelia Denby before the Grant Marshall trained gelding scored in the following event over Faatinaat and All a Lady.

The performance of Pandora Blue was full of merit in the Benchmark 66 Handicap after the Kristen Buchanan trained mare was challenged for the majority of the journey by Endless River before breaking clear to score an impressive victory.

The final event resulted in sucess to Street Power with Ashley Morgan having no hesitation in allowing the Brett Cavanough trained gelding to stride clear before running his rivals ragged to score by around two lengths.

Democracy Manifest was responsible for an outstanding performance after settling near the tail of the field and making up enormous amounts of ground to claim second place while Imatruestar had trouble in gaining clear galloping room down the home running before running third.

Racing was conducted under fine skies and empty grandstands with the good four track racing well despite providing some advantage to horses travelling on the speed.

The club is greatly appreciative of their continued association with Carlton and United Breweries for the cup carnival and acknowledge the support provided Birdon Group, De Bortoli Wines, Fastplast Building Supplies, Flower Hotels, John Oxley Motors, Tabcorp and JR Richards and Sons.

Racing continues with an evenly balanced program scheduled for Sunday 24th October with the club hopeful of crowds being able to attend following a relaxation of Covid-19 regulations following the achievement of vaccination benchmarks.