Originally set for Geelong, the meeting was moved for maintenance reasons and Benalla trainer Peter Smith delivered one of the most talked-about winners on the day.
His lightly raced six-year-old mare Showamour — she has only had five starts — was sent out at 31/1 in the $22,000 Hygain Handicap over 1600m.
The horse had been a last start winner over the same distance at Warracknabeal, to break her maiden, in late June.
Yet there was hardly a ripple of interest in her by the time she headed for the starting barrier.
When the field jumped the horse bowled along midfield in a race with no real speed, but when they turned for home jockey Daniel Stackhouse used the swing into the straight to move to the extreme outside for a clear run at the leaders.
The horse started gathering them in one by one before fending off Jeune Elvis late to get the win, with the red-hot favourite Shake On It only beating home one of the 10 starters.
While Showamour has had more birthdays than race starts, she has proved a quality horse on the track — two wins from four starts in Victoria and a fifth unplaced run in NSW following her first race in October last year.
Jockey Stackhouse, who has ridden both wins, said Smith had done a good job with the horse and the month between its last race and this one proved to be a good strategy.
"She’s a bit of a quirky little mare but she has done a good job,'' he said.
"I think she will be able to make her way through the grades with more experience.
"Pete’s always had a good opinion of her, it’s just that she is a bit of a hot mare that can be hard to deal with sometimes.
"But after winning her last two I think she will be able to go on with it.''
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