Scone trainer Cameron Crockett was rewarded for his decision to bring Leovanni to town off a country maiden win when the mare took last Saturday’s Class 3 TAB Highway Plate over 1600 metres at Randwick.
The Kiwi-bred four-year-old was backing up off a Tamworth maiden win over 1400 metres eight days earlier.
Last Saturday, on a track rated a heavy 9, jockey Alysha Collett elected to trail odds-on favourite Moon Sweeper in running. 
When she made her move in the straight, Leovanni ($20) quickly put paid to Moon Sweeper, drawing away to win by a half-length from that horse with a 2¼-length gap to third. 
“She’s probably the best galloper in my stable but she’s got a few ‘head noises’ and has cost herself more races. She should have gotten a few by now. 
“Sometimes people wait too long to take them to town and they carry big weights because of it, which makes it harder. If they’ve got the ability, you just bring them down and that’s what I’ve done with her. 
“I wasn’t 100-percent sure if she’d handle the conditions but she’s got a New Zealand pedigree and was given a light weight so I had to roll the dice. 
“It’s taken her a while to work it out and she’s not the easiest horse to ride but she does have a lot of ability.”
Collett said her pre-race plan had come together pleasingly.
“All I wanted to do was find that grey horse’s bottom (Moon Sweeper) and once I did I knew I was going to go past it at some stage,” she said.
Around the traps
At Newcastle last Saturday, local Nathan Doyle fared best of the trainers, leading in a winning double. Both his winners were ridden by Jean Van Overmeire, who took ridings honours with a winning treble. 
At Cowra the same afternoon, Mathew Cahill rode a double on the six-race card. 
Meanwhile in the state’s north west, the tightest of finishes saw the 1600-metre Wean Picnic Cup won by $3.60 favourite More Cash, trained at Inverell by Ridge Wilson and ridden by Eloise Drews, from the Kieren Hazelton-trained Gilgandra five-year-old Mariota. 
Wilson and Drews then combined to take out the last on the six-race program, the 1600-metre Civeo Conditional Picnic Handicap, with another favourite, Captain Insano ($2.20). 
Drews finished the day with a treble.
The Grafton carnival continued on Sunday with the running of the $80,000 South Grafton Cup (1610m), won by the Tom Charlton-trained four-year-old Mr Chaplin, who started a $2.40 favourite under Kerrin McEvoy. 
The same afternoon in the Riverina, Victorian raider Yam took the $70,000 Narrandera Cup over 1600 metres. (See Central Victoria report.) 
Earlier on the program, the 2100-metre Stayers Cup went to the Tim Donnelly-trained Wagga six-year-old County Kilkenny ($4.60), ridden by two-kilo claiming apprentice Dale Cole. 
A couple of cups
This Saturday is cup day at Carinda in the north west, where the pub is famous as the location for David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” video. The cup is over 1400 metres.
On Sunday the Grafton carnival, which reached its climax with Wednesday’s Ramornie Handicap and Thursday’s Grafton Cup, concludes with the running of the Maclean Cup over 1400 metres.
Margaret, take a bow
Last week at Taree, Port Macquarie trainer Margaret de Gonneville led in a winner with her very last race starter as Golden Galaxy ($21), with Kacie Adams in the saddle, won the final race on the program. 
De Gonneville, who is 91 years of age, has had a wonderful career with horses. 
I met her many years ago when she was running a riding school at Centennial Park in Sydney, while at the same time riding trackwork for Tommy Smith. 
She became a real trailblazer for women, being among the first in NSW to gain a jockey’s licence. I wish her all the best in her retirement.