Casino Race Club conducted its annual cup meeting last Saturday albeit to a closed audience other than those who watched the races on Sky. Grafton were in the winners circle by way of the speedy Tobasco.
Trained by John Shelton and ridden by expatriate Graftonian Ben Looker Tobasco looked to ideally placed in the 1000m BM 58 event.
Starting favorite Looker came out hard from the outside gate and found himself cruising to the lead by the time he reached the first turn. From there it was almost race over as Tobasco set a pace that had his rivals off the bit for most of the 1000m journey.
Inside the final 200m Looker gave the gelding a couple of slaps with the whip to quickly put the issue beyond any doubt with Tobasco going on to win by over two lengths.
It was the second win for the gelding since joining the Shelton yard from North Queensland last year.