MINNIE Downs has won her second consecutive Murray Downs Golf and Country Club Swan Hill Cup.
At long odds to achieve the double in the 1600m race, the Brian Cox-trained seven-year-old screamed down the home stretch to steal a narrow victory from Self Sense and locally trained Curragh King.
Speaking to The Guardian after the race, apprentice jockey Mitchell Aitken said the victory was the best moment in his career as a rider.
“It was a great thrill and is the biggest achievement in my career so far, hopefully I can keep going,” Aitken said after the race.
“I came into it pretty confident. She won this last year and I know she hasn’t won a race since then but she is an honest horse.
“She tries every time she is out there.
“At the top I thought I was in for a chance and didn’t think I’d get there, she really threw it in and it got us there.”
The 5000-strong crowd was in awe and cheering an unlikely victory as the horses approached the final lengths.
Swan Hill trainer Con Kelly’s Curragh King finished third, while trainer Nathan Hobson had Don’t Get Excited finish in sixth place.
Darren Weir and Harry Coffey would not team up in the race with Refulgent being scratched, with the apprentice jockey jumping on Cox’s Baby Jack who ran thirteenth.
Weir’s other horse Tonopah ran fifth.
