Country cups specialist Tall Ship took out the 2015 TAB Werribee Cup at Werribee Racecourse on Sunday.
The five-year-old gelding from the OTI Racing stables clinched his fourth country cup this year.
The $2 race favourite, trained by Darren Weir, had good form on the board after previously winning the Terang Cup, Stawell Cup and Warrnambool Cup in 2015.
The future looks bright for Tall Ship, with jockey Brad Rawiller predicting big metropolitan meetings on the horizon.
“Down the track he’s not going to be running these country cups … I think he’ll be going to town,” he told racing.com.
“We’d like to dream of a Melbourne Cup in 12 months.
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“There’s a long way to go before we get to that, but I still think he’s a horse that won’t be racing in the country next year.”
Tall Ship spent much of the 2600m race in the back half of the field.
An even line broke out of the gates, with Stephen Baster taking Mujadale to the front and holding the lead comfortably until 600m to go.
Imperial Lass, ridden by Linda Meech, seemed to have the best running of the field, second back on the fence, but it was Tall Ship who came home with a wet sail.
Rawiller went three wide at the last turn despite pre-race tactics favouring the rails run. It proved to be the right decision.
“The wind is behind you at that side straight, so I wasn’t worried about coming out and covering a little bit of ground,” Rawiller said.
“I didn’t want to be [on the fence] and lose momentum. It’s a 2600m race and they don’t get stopped and get going again so I kept him rolling. He’s in a different class to the field he ran against today. No disrespect to the other runners, but I’m a big wrap on this horse.”
Tall Ship is a UK-born horse brought to Melbourne by OTI Racing owners.
And the move is paying off, with Tall Ship already winning more than $300,000 in prizemoney.
He was recently named Country Racing horse of the year for 2014-15.
