Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Robbie Dolan gave Gold Coast trainer Melissa Kelly one of her biggest moments in racing with a masterfully timed ride aboard Oughton to take out the Listed Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) at Ipswich.
The victory marked Kelly’s second black-type triumph, following Oughton’s success in the Recognition Stakes last year. Dolan, fresh off his 2024 Melbourne Cup win aboard outsider Knight’s Choice, acknowledged the significance of the result for a small-scale stable.
“It’s good for those sort of trainers. It means a lot to them. It’s their Melbourne Cup,” Dolan said.
“It’s a pretty good win for him. He has had lots of problems over the years, come back from Hong Kong.
“It didn’t go to plan in the race. I ended up down on the rail but I could see (favourite) Warnie two (lengths) in front of me and I just had my eyes set on him.
“Once I got him to the outside, albeit he wanted to lay in, he found the line well.”
Oughton signalled he was ready to peak with a solid lead-up effort when finishing fifth behind Front Page in the Moreton Cup (1200m). Dolan had confidence in the gelding’s chances heading into Saturday’s race.
“I had a bit of faith with this horse,” he said. “If you see my comment after I rode him last start, I said he could come to this race and be a good chance.”
Formerly trained in Sydney before a stint in Hong Kong, Oughton returned to Australia last year and quickly impressed his new stable. After winning the Recognition Stakes at Doomben, Kelly earmarked the Brisbane winter carnival as his next target.
“We thought we’d put him away and see what he could do over the winter,” Kelly said.
“He gets a little bit cocky. He knows when he’s won. He knows when he has run a good race.
“He was a little bit soft because he’d gone a month between runs last time and just knocked up. I knew today he was going in a lot fitter.”
Oughton ($8) prevailed by half a length over Sha Of Gomer ($20), with Fortunate Kiss ($19) another length back in third. Race favourite Warnie ($2.45) finished a luckless fifth after encountering traffic in the straight.
Earlier in the day, rising 10-year-old Flash Aah ($31) broke an 1100-day drought by storming to victory in the Listed Ipswich Cup (2150m). Trainer Troy Pascoe credited the long-awaited win to a more suitable race tempo after several frustrating outings.
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