THE mother and daughter team of trainer Karen Owen and jockey Madeline Owen reigned supreme on their home track when Sound And Vision won the $100,00 Stacks Law Firm Taree Gold Cup as the extreme outsider of the field on Sunday.
Sound And Vision was the only horse in the race that went in as a last-start winner, having scored at Kempsey on November 10, but its benchmark rating was the lowest in the race. That, combined with a wide barrier draw saw the seven-year-old gelding start at the huge odds of $61.
Madeline Owen's ground-saving ride from barrier seven in the eight-horse field almost certainly made the difference between winning and losing in the end and that was recognised by her mum.
Sound And Vision settled down in last place in the 2000-metre event and when the pace of the race increased inside the final 800 metres, Owen chose to stick to the fence and look for a run rather than try to thread a path through the middle or go to the outside.
After rounding the home turn like a greyhound Sound And Vision wasn't far from the lead and the only horse she had to go around in the straight was the leader, Claptone. Sound And Vision did that and fought hard to narrowly beat favourite Rogue Bear ($2.10) and Aramayo {$5.50).
"That was amazing," a thrilled Karen Owen said afterwards. "His Kempsey win was very good. I thought the gate today was going to make it hard, but Maddy rode him beautifully so it was a big surprise and a big thrill."
Apart from the prizemoney, the Taree Gold Cup is one of those country cups races that makes the winner eligible for the $3 million Big Dance over 1600 metres at Randwick on the first Tuesday of next November.
That massive race is obviously a long way off at this stage, but the trainer is certainly keen about heading towards the event if Sound And Vision is fit, well and still firing heading into next spring.
"Yeah, that's the main thing (eligibility)," she said. "And I think 1600 he can do fresh, so, who knows? We'll see how he turns up next year. I mean, he's a seven-year-old, but he's racing as well as he ever has."
Sound And Vision's best form in his 32 starts before the cup had been on rain-affected tracks. His previous five wins had come on tracks rated soft or heavy.
Taree was rated a Good 4 for the cup meeting, but there had been a bit of rain before the weekend and that probably took some sting out of the ground.
"Even though it's a Good 4 I still think it had a good cushion, which suits him," Owen said.
