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By Colin Hodges

Hammoon Thunder, the last start winner of the Hillston Cup, backed up to win the Picnic Cup before a very big crowd on Easter Sunday at Bourke.

Violet Soulsby, an apprentice jockey in the professional ranks, was aboard Hammoon Thunder at Hillston while Kembla Grange-based Paul Zerafa was the rider for the Rodney Robb, Nyngan-trained galloper in the 1600m Splashe Cola-Rices Back O Bourke Cordials-Harry Hart Memorial Picnic Cup.

Jockey Paul Zerafa after winning a race at Bedgerabong. Image by Janian McMillan (Racing Photography)

Owned by Paul and Bindi Frampton from Merriwa, Hammoon Thunder finished fourth in the 2400m Iron Horse Handicap at the Wellington Boot carnival before being transferred to Rodney Robb who has won the only two starts with the five-year-old gelding.

Chapel Lane led the Cup field at Bourke while Hammoon Thunder ($3) carrying the 71kg top weight raced in a handy position before finishing gamely to beat Mrs Bull (Leandro Ribeiro, $2 favourite) by almost a length with Blackhill Kitty (Todd Bailey, $3.80) four lengths away third.

Cup-winning jockey Paul Zerafa had won the opening race, the 800m Sleepy & J.D. Dwyer Memorial Maiden Plate on the Benno Bowen, Queensland-trained Kraken Edition.

Kraken Edition had been supported in the betting ring with a sizeable wager at $26 before starting at $11 and after settling back in the field gained an inside run to score by a half length from Coonanglebah (Leandro Ribeiro, $3.20 fav) and Monkey Rat (Zara Lewis, $4).

Mr Pointer won a Maiden Handicap at Grafton in 2021 and after being winless at more then 20 subsequent starts was sold to Wayne Prisk and Butch Eves from Cobar.

Trained by Wayne Prisk, Mr Pointer has won a further eight races including successive wins at the 2023, 2024 and 2025 annual Bourke picnics.

After racing outside the leader on Sunday in the 800m Bourke Bowling Club Open Trophy Handicap, Mr Pointer (Tamsin Gough, $2.50 fav) was too good for Sussu (Zara Lewis, $4) and Mr Invincible (Emily Waters, $11).

Forbes trainer Bill Hayes, who won several races at King Island, Tasmania over summer, had a definite change of scenery when winning the 1300m THM Earthmoving and Hire Class 1 Trophy Handicap at Bourke with Advertimento..

Establishing a five lengths lead with Parnassus, Advertimento (Todd Bailey, $13) in a tough performance kept going to win by nearly two lengths from The Drafter (Ashley Boyd, $3.50) and Dancedes (Leandro Ribeiro, $4).

Todd Bailey completed a double when the Connie Greig-trained Benyatta ($6) suited by the fast pace set by Conquest, finished best to account for Nannu (Paul Zerafa, $2 fav) and Celtic Harp (Leandro Ribeiro, $3.80) in the 1300m Outback Ice & Outback Refrigeration 1300m Open Trophy Handicap.

Patiently ridden by the experienced Ashley Boyd, the Terry Fulwood, Narromine-trained Stanawi ($10) from near the back of the field sprinted on the inside to win the 1000m Bourke Steel & Hire and Nutrien Walsh Hughes Bourke Class B Handicap from Gypsy King (Zara Lewis, $5) and Miss Piera (Emily Waters, $2 fav).

ANZAC Day meetings at Bathurst and Nyngan followed by Cootamundra picnics on Saturday and Narromine on Sunday.