Nothing but grins as apprentice jockey Lauren Guernier on Vincenzo claims the 2025 Cooktown Cup. Photo: Chisa Hasegawa.
After being unsure she was even going to be able to saddle up for the meeting, Lauren Guernier delivered a performance that belied her status as an apprentice jockey to claim a dominant win in the 2025 Cooktown Bowls Club Cooktown Cup on 8 November.
The young hoop, who was sick in the days leading up to the Queensland Country Cups Challenge Qualifier, overcame the odds to steer the Allan Holmes-trained Vincenzo ($4.40) to victory over the 1760-metre journey, with the result landing some big bets for ecstatic punters.
“I’ve actually been pretty crook this week, and wasn’t even sure I was going to come to the meeting,” she said on Saturday afternoon.
“But I’m here and we’ve won, and that’s what it’s all about.
“I can’t wait to come back next year.”
Vincenzo finished ahead of the highly fancied Sir Rocket ($3.50) and Noble Attack, piloted by Lacey Morrison and Amanda Thomson, to record a winning margin of 1.03 lengths.
In the first of the six races on the card, the Poison Creek Station/Auswaste Open Handicap over 1000m, Ivo Fry showed by the Stephen Bush-trained Midas Star jumped as the $1.85 favourite, putting nearly two lengths on Tyler Leslight on Guapo for Alex Maliff, and Guernier on the Athol Ryan-trained Racatoon.
In the Cooktown Hardware/Cooktown Postal Services QTIS Benchmark 50 (1000m), Morrison saluted on Threebrothers ($2.40F), with trainer Alwyn Bailey notching up the quinella when Thomson steered Power Puff ($3.40) to second place ahead of Fry on Reemyya for trainer Janel Ryan.
As the mercury pushed towards a sticky 33 degrees, Guernier secure her first of two wins for the meeting when she gave Blondie’s Secret ($6) a peach of a ride to claim the Fairview Station Ratings Band 0-50 over the 1290m trip for Athol Ryan, with Rachel Shred on roughie Sweet Candy ($21) and Thomson aboard On The Quiet ($2F) completing the trifecta.
Race four of the 151st edition of the Cooktown Races was the Cape York Weekly/Sovereign Resort Hotel Maiden Plate, with equal favourites Mohawk Warrior ($3) and Gee Up ($3) proving the market right in a close tussle for jockeys Shred and Fry, with Morrison claiming third spot aboard Colonel Parker ($3.60).
Shred’s victory drew cheers from the big crowd, as she also trained the four-year-old Dundeel gelding.
Trainer Bush picked up his second win of the meeting in the Cooktown RSL Club Cooktown Bracelet, when Isabella Teh piloted Redlights On ($3.20) to a narrow victory over Guernier on the Athol Ryan-trained Deal An Ace ($3.70) and another horse from his stable, Capicella ($6), ridden by Shred.
Vincenzo (left), piloted by apprentice hoop Lauren Guernier, starts to pull away from the field during the closing stages of the 2025 Cooktown Cup on 8 November. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
