With a near-flawless run Garry White’s Letter to Juliette stormed to a two-length win in Friday afternoon’s Inland Digital Orange Showcase Gold Cup (2100 metres) at Towac Park, handing the Hawkesbury trainer his fourth success in Racing Orange’s feature.
Despite still being in the company of the likes of Joseph Pride’s Bon Equus and Danny Williams’ Mister Marmalade, thanks to the scratching of Cameron Crockett’s Kingsbridge a plethora of punters trackside suggested White’s mare was a special leading into $65,000 feature.
She proved why too, after firming as the $2.70 favourite the four-year-old sat one wide mid-pack before working to the head of the field at the 300-mark, after that she didn’t look troubled and waltzed home from Mister Marmalade ($4.20) and Eerised ($6).
Her win backs up White’s victories of yesteryear, the Hawkesbury trainer tasted success twice with Aussie Statesman and once with Peaceful Joe as well.
“This race has certainly been good to me, I really love this track,” White said.
“I mean that too, I genuinely love this track. The layout of it, the camber of it, every horse gets a good chance and I think it leaves [others in the region] for dead. It was a pity there wasn’t a bit more water in it, but it didn’t bother [Letter To Juliette].
“She did a great job, I’m delighted with her. She’ll have one more run in a 2100 at Hawkesbury’s stand-alone meeting before going to spell. It won’t be long though, because she’s really good in the wet so I’ll use her in winter.”
White heaped praised on hoop Mathew Cahill too, who’s win on Letter To Juliette gave him a feature double at Towac Park after he steered Lucy Rose home in the Train 365 Cup Day Showcase Sprint (1000m) just half an hour earlier.
“He rode a terrific race,” White said, adding it was a far cry from the duo’s run in the Bathurst Cup in February.
"He was lucky to get back on her because he slaughtered that at Bathurst. He should’ve gone straight to the front there and taken all the bad luck out of it but he didn’t, he sat deep and got pole-axed on the corner but that’s racing I guess.”
Letter To Juliette jumped from barrier seven on Friday afternoon, settling into a nice run behind the pace-setters in Michael Plummer’s Bathurstian and Bon Equus.
Bathurstian stretched his lead to three lengths by the 600-mark but was outclassed as his challengers started their runs.
Early into the straight Letter To Juliette shifted past Bon Equus as Mister Marmalade stormed down the outside, but White’s mare was far too strong.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
