Cup triumph 12 months in the making

IT WAS a long time coming, but Dhaulagiri has finally broken his maiden for Matthew Horsnell.

Trained by Horsnell since October 2024, Dhaulagiri snapped his losing streak by capturing today’s St Arnaud Pacing Cup

During the interim, Dhaulagiri has run five seconds and three thirds, with one of his ‘bridesmaid’ appearances in last season’s Cup.

The son of American Ideal has been runner-up during his past four outings, including the South Australia Cup a fortnight ago.

“This win has been a long time coming,” Horsnell said. “I claimed him last year and after a few starts I decided to take to Sydney as I was going, but while there he had a fibrillation…actually a few things didn’t go to plan.

“He came home and I spelled him, but he didn’t come back as good as I would have liked.

“He hit a flat spot, but over time, he has started to come good and had been building up to a win.

“He has worked out to be quite a nice purchase…I’m very happy with him.”

With Lochie Cook holding the reins, Dhaulagiri was pushed through from his inside of the second row draw to gain the run of the race behind Spirit Of Anarchy, which led from the pole.

Finishing stoutly along the sprint lane, the gelding dashed to a eight-metre win from the front runner, with Pesci seven metres away third.

Earlier on the card Link In Bio worked to the lead from barrier five on his way to a soft triumph in the Trotting Cup.

Trained by Alison Alford and driven by her husband, Chris, Link In Bio rated 2:04.6 for 2520-metre stand as Hatchback and I Dream Of Millie filled the placings.