In a perfect world Cowra trainer Andrew Molloy would've left the Cowra races with a winning treble on Sunday.
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After wins earlier in the day with Valarian in the Pepper Tree Farm Maiden and Just a Flash in the Jamiesons Joinery Benchmark 58 Molloy came agonisingly close to a historic win with crowd favourite Zarhron in the Breakout River Meats Cowra Japan Cup only to be denied by a galloper having its first start since late 2018 in a shadows of the winning post.
Mudgee trained Distinctive Look hadn't raced since finishing 17th of 18 in the 2000 metre Country Classic at Rosehill Gardens on November 24, 2018.
Despite having the benefit of two recent trials the 1200 metres of the Japan Cup looked too short for Distinctive Look but he was able to overhaul Zarhron just as his supporters were starting to look at a historic fifth win in the Cowra feature.
Earlier in the day Molloy had his local supporters pleased with themselves after Valarian started the day for the Cowra stable in perfect fashion.
Pre-race plans for the four year-old son of Ad Valorem went out the window when he failed to show any dash out of the gates and got back a little further than Molloy expected from the two gate with the trainer admitting he wasn't confident when the field turned for home.
After expecting to lead the event Molloy said afterwards "I wasn't that confident on the turn, the leader was really travelling".
I wasn't that confident on the turn, the leader was really travelling
- Cowra trainer Andrew Molloy
He did believe however Valarian deserved the win at its 15th attempt to break its maiden status.
"The horse has been going good," Molloy said.
"He didn't jump the best, he really doesn't have any turn of foot, he's just a grinding type."
Sunday's win followed an excellent last start second over 1000 metres at Dubbo and a previous start fourth in a strong maiden at Wagga Wagga.
"He's been up against it early on with big weights but his last three or four runs have been really good."
Winning jockey Matthew Cahill said the instructions were to lead but the early pace was just too hot with the Mark Schmetzer trainer Tough Case racing to a big lead.
Having its first start from a break Tough Case jumped from near the outside and had what looked like a winning break as heads turned for home.
"He was just beaten for speed, the leader went really quick," Cahill said.
"You don't want to give that much start around Cowra but as quick as it went it stopped just as quick.
"That played into his hands, he had a nice run from the 600 and finished the race off nice.
"The tempo probably suited him, he had no weight on his back and a soft draw," Cahill said.
He has the reputation of being one of the fastest horses in the central west and Just a Flash lived up to that tag when he made light of his wide barrier in the 950 metre Jamiesons Joinery Benchmark 58.
They only go around the one turn in 950 metre races on the Cowra track and winning jockey Eleanor Webster-Hawes had no hesitation in driving the lightly raced four year-old to the lead to make it win number three from eight starts for the son of Money or the Gun.
"He is a fast horse," Molloy said after the win admitting that he did expect him to go close to breaking the track record. Just a Flash covered the 950 metres in 53.60 seconds.