TOP jockey Grant Buckley won his third Port Macquarie Cup when he combined with the class runner of the race, Superium, in the $200,000 event at Taree races on Friday, October 6.
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The race was run at Taree while works are being done on the course proper at Port Macquarie and Superium, trained by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes at Rosehill, appreciated the roomy track.
Superium, with a benchmark of 90, was clearly the highest-rated horse in the race but still got in very well under the race conditions. The seven-year-old gelding carried 55kg, barely above the minimum weight of 54kg which was carried by each of the other nine runners.
The only doubt over Superium going into the race was whether he would handle the distance of 2000 metres. He had not previously raced over further than 1600 nor won over further than 1400.
The Chris Waller-trained Special Swey's jockey Ben Looker pushed his horse forward to pressure leader Full Press midway through the race to ensure a genuine pace and that also suited Superium by ensuring he didn't waste energy by pulling.
Superium, which started second favourite at $3.70, was slightly worse than midfield in the run and when Buckley brought him into the clear at the top of the straight he bounded away to win by 1.19 lengths from $3.20 favourite Special Swey, which made it a quinella for Rosehill-based trainers.
Dark Dream, a $7 chance trained by Allan Kehoe at Wyong, was third.
"When they backed the tempo off like that he sort of over-raced for a fraction there and I thought, 'Oh no, it's all over'," Buckley said.
"But then the speed was injected down the back when Bennie went forward and my horse sort of switched off and got a bit more of a rhythm. I didn't really want to be where I was, but I just had to take my medicine and ride for luck and hope he was the best horse out there, which he was.
"Great stable. What can you say about the stable? I don't get that many rides for them, but it's good that I could get the job done. He's a lovely horse to ride and the bigger track probably suited him. His class shone through."
Buckley wasn't able to manage even a placegetter in his five other rides at the meeting, but his skill and timing was on show for all to see in the main race. Superium was the only runner the Hawkes stable had at the meeting.
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