On Sunday November 28, the Bernie Howlett-trained Mackunckle was heavily backed by the punters into the favourite for the $200,000 Listed Canberra Cup (2010m) and the defending champion rewarded their ers with an historic win.
In a thrilling 2010 Canberra Cup result, Moon Rocket six-year-old Macknuckle ($4.60) and jockey Dwayne Dunn held off a gallant late charge by the Gai Waterhouse-trained Rock Kingdom ($8), who had lead for nearly the entire race, to win by a half-head with Fast Future ($9) a neck further back for third.
It was the first time in 24 years that a horse won back-to-back Canberra Cups, Mackunckle now a winner of 10 of his 34 career starts for nearly $620,000 in prize money.
Dunn settled Macknuckle just off the speed on Sunday, before the gelding pulled out a brilliant late burst mid-way down the home straight, hitting the lead with 200m to go and hanging on to win much to the joy of the crowd.
Earlier, He’s An Angel was scratched at the barriers after jumping sideways and dislodging jockey Brendan Ward and seconds into the race Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michael Rodd fell from his mount Rockpecker.
Connections including trainer Howlett will now target the Listed Christmas Cup (2400m) at Rosehill on December 11 followed by the Group 3 Summer Cup (2400m) at Randwick the following week, December 19, with Macknuckle.
The best summer racing action this weekend is in Perth with Ascot home to the $500,000 Group 1 Kingston Town Classic (1800m) and for the longest odds and biggest payouts for the feature, we highly recommend Luxbet!
2010 Canberra Cup Results & Finishing Order
| Place | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | SP | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MACKNUCKLE | Bernie Howlett | Dwayne Dunn | $4.60F | – |
| 2 | ROCK KINGDOM | Gai Waterhouse | Nash Rawiller | $8 | 0.2 |
| 3 | FAST FUTURE (NZ) | Russell Cameron | Daniel Ganderton | $9 | 0.4 |
| 4 | LET THEM HAVE IT | Kevin Moses | Tommy Berry | $8 | 2.5 |
| 5 | JIMMY FORTUNES | Michael Clout | Brenton Avdulla | $17 | 3.6 |
| 6 | RED BUTTONS | Michael Kent | Glen Boss | $5.50 | 6 |
| 7 | BELLAGIO WYNN | Chris Waller | Glyn Schofield | $12 | 6.2 |
| 8 | WITH ICE | Tony Sergi | Nathan Berry | $14 | 6.6 |
| 9 | DANCING TIME | Gratz Vella | Peter Wells | $81 | 8.7 |
| 10 | WYORA | David Blundell | Mathew Cahill | $51 | 9.4 |
| 11 | CONISTON BLUEBIRD | Bede Murray | Rod Quinn | $14 | 10.5 |
| 12 | BACK TO ZERO | Barbara Joseph & Paul Jones | Jason Collins | $41 | 12.3 |
| 13 | RIVER RONALD | Peter Tiyce | Natalie Lye | $61 | 12.9 |
| 14 | INADESERT | Steven O’Brien | Grant Buckley | $51 | 14 |
| Lost Rider | ROCKPECKER | Ken Fythe | Micheal Rodd | $12 | – |
| SCRATCHED | HE’S AN ANGEL | – | – | – | – |
| SCRATCHED | JUST DRUMMIN’ | – | – | – | – |
| SCRATCHED | SPINNEY | – | – | – | – |
| SCRATCHED | TORHYTHM | – | – | – | – |
| SCRATCHED | ZAMPARA | – | – | – | – |
