Emma Pritchard

As the mid-autumn sun shone brightly, close to 400 racegoers headed trackside on April 30 when the Clarence River Jockey Club (CRJC) hosted the 2023 Brushgrove Cup race meeting.

With the rail in its true position and the track rated a Soft 7, prior to its upgrading to a Soft 6 early in the day, 96 thoroughbreds jumped from the barriers across an eight-race program.

And with the odds of the subsequent winners varying from 2/1 to 33/1, the event provided mixed results for punters and bookmakers.

The feature event of the day, Race 7, the 2023 Brushgrove Hotel and Patrons Brushgrove Cup Open Handicap over 1175m, attracted a strong field of 14 starters, with the locally owned and trained mare Miss Super starting the short price favourite at $2.20 on the back of a five week freshen up.

But it was another locally trained galloper who strode clear with the feature event at odds of 20/1.

Having his first race start since December 17, 2022, four-year-old gelding Andy broke cleanly from barrier 7 and assumed the lead from Gobbled at the 800m mark before kicking strongly in the home straight under the urging of jockey Jake Bayliss to record a strong 1.3 length winning margin from Two Ya Got and Cabsav.

Trained on the track by Andrew Parramore, who described Andy as a cheeky bugger who displays plenty of antics during his post-race interview, the chestnut son of Whittington took his career earnings over $70000, and gave owner and proud Brushgrove resident Paul Richardson, plenty of reasons to smile as he returned to the mounting yard.

“We thought he’d be short of a run,” he admitted.

“But he won on ability.”

The 2023 Brushgrove Cup was the second feature race Andy has won on his home track within the past 12 months following his success in the 2022 Yamba Cup when ridden by Sean Cormack.

When asked which other races Andy will be aimed towards during his current preparation, Mr Richardson revealed the John Carlton Cup, run during the annual July Racing Carnival, remains on the agenda.