Scott had to return to Melbourne and Bennett’s then foreman, Andrew Robinson, looked after the horse until Scott returned.

The pair remained friends, Robinson returned to Muswellbrook, his home town, earlier this year to take out his licence and Scott sent him three horses to help him get started.

One of those horses was a filly called Barr Hill, which led all the way for Paul King to win the TAB.COM.AU Maiden (900m) at Muswellbrook on Tuesday, starting at $41 and paying $78.60 for the win to give Robinson his first winner.

Barr Hill was resuming after being well backed but running only eighth for Scott in a Geelong maiden in June. She was later found to be shin sore.

“Despite the price I thought she was a good chance if you had a look at the video of that first run,” Robinson said.

“This is a great thrill but I have a lot of people to thank, particularly (fellow trainer) Tim McIntosh for riding her in her work.

“He has put a lot into getting this filly ready.

“My late Dad (John) trained here for many years and I learned a lot from him as well as Greg.”

Robinson is the son of Muswellbrook Race Club’s track work supervisor and life member Dot Robinson while his brother, Matthew, is a successful trainer at Taree.

King jumped the filly to the lead from her wide barrier and was never headed to win by three quarters of a length from the favourite Paris For Me.

On Sunday at Wyong King won on I Am Captain to give new Hawkesbury trainer, Brooke Somers, her first winner.

**

RACHAEL Murray landed a winning treble, winning the first race, the Panzer Division @ Arrowfield Maiden (900m) on the Greg Bennett-trained Seven Sonnets, the Melbourne Cup Day @ Muswellbrook Maiden (1280m) on Phoenix Sunrise for Tracey Bartley and the final event, the Adelaide @ Coolmore Benchmark 55 (1450m) on Messiah’s Jewel for Warwick Farm trainer Mark de Montfort.

“I’ve bringing horses up here for a little while now and this is my first Muswellbrook winner,” de Montfort said.

“I was a bit worried about the rain they got on Monday because this horse is no good on a rain affected track.

“Rachael lives here at Muswellbrook so I rang her early this morning and because we were in the last race she thought the track would have dried out well by then which it did.”

Messiah’s Jewel rattled home to grab Ready And Flying on the line to win by a half head.

**

TIM McIntosh, who was publically thanked for the role he plays in preparing Barr Hill, later in the day led in a winner as a trainer in his own right when Our Rising Star (Jeff Penza) won the Cup Day 15th  November Benchmark 55 (1000m).

McIntosh is hoping the win will give the pony-sized three-year-old the confidence to live up to the potential he showed earlier on.

“I thought he was going to develop into a nice horse and he might get further so we stepped him out to 1300 metres but he didn’t handle it,” McIntosh said.

“We left him a colt in the hope he might grow but it didn’t happen so we gelded him.

“I didn’t expect to see him get as a far back as he did so that adds merit to the win.

“I thought he would have been up on the speed.”

Penza settled Our Rising Star in fourth and fifth position, on the fence, eased around the leaders on the turn then finished hard to win by a neck from the favourite No Qualm.

And what of Barr Hill?

“She is a real handful,” McIntosh said.

Yet Robinson said that around the stable she was so quiet the kids led her around.

“It is only when she comes to the track that she becomes a problem.”

**

SEVEN Sonnets over came waywardness on the home turn to race away and win at her first start for Greg Bennett and her first start since coming from Victoria.

The filly ran off on the turn and Rachael Murray was on the one rein getting her around the corner.

“That’s something we can tweak but it can be fixed,” Bennett said.

The filly was previously trained by Lee and Anthony Freedman.

“As you know I have a close association with Lee and Anthony,” Bennett said.

“She is part owned by Yarraman Park so the decision was made to send her home for a break then they decided to leave her here for a while and kindly asked me if I would train her.

“There is improvement to come and I guess if she progresses well beyond this she may go back but in the meantime we will press on with her.”

After the race Bennett produced a piece of trivia.

“I got my licence in 1990 and my first winner was a horse called Tru Bria which won a maiden here,” Bennett said.

“She was a chestnut filly, very much like this one and carried saddle cloth 13.”

Seven Sonnets was also number 13.

**

BARR Hill and Seven Sonnets were both former Victorian-trained gallopers and they were joined by another ex-Victorian in Phoenix Rising, now trained at Wyong by Tracey Bartley, which produced a fighting finish to win the Melbourne Cup Day @ Muswellbrook Maiden (1280m).

Phoenix Rising was previously trained by Pat Carey and bought by one of Bartley’s clients after four unplaced runs on Victorian provincial tracks.

“She has a breathing problem but she is well bred and that’s why we bought her,” Bartley said.

“She has thickening on either side of her throat and there is nothing that can be done to correct it so her future as a race horse is going to be limited.”

The Foxwedge filly ran ninth at Wyong at her first start for Bartley then led all the way to win this race to give Murray the second leg of her treble.

However, the jockey apologised to Bartley for the ride.

“I’m sorry I led on her but I had no other option,” Murray said.

Phoenix Rising ($10) fought back gamely near the line beat the favourite Kijito by a short head.

**

YET another unusual racing story.

Joshua Parr lost his whip in the straight before going on to win the Godolphin Class Two (1750m) on the Adam Duggan trained Urban Prince.

Let him tell the story.

“I reached for the whip but the wind blew it out of hand and it landed on the neck of the horse that Matty McGillivray was riding,” Parr said.

“It was balancing on that horse’s neck for a couple of seconds and I leaned over to try and grab hold of it and missed.

“I had to revert to some good old hands and heels riding.

“The whip is lying on the track at the 300 metres.”

Urban Prince and McGillivray’s mount, Speed Hero, fought out the finish with Urban Prince winning by a long neck.

Parr has a lot of time for Urban Prince.

“He just keeps improving and Adam and the team have done a great job with him,” Parr said.

“He has a very efficient action and there are a lot more wins in him.”

**

WARWICK Farm trainer Craig Ritchie is wondering if Humility might develop into a Saturday city class horse after her win in the Muswellbrookraceclub.com.au Maiden (1500m).

“If she does not measure up to Saturday class she will certainly be a provincial class horse from 2000 to 2200 metres,” Ritchie said.

“She struggled during her first preparation but has come back a far stronger, more mature mare.”

Apprentice James Innes settled the mare fourth and three wide, went to the lead in the straight and beat We’re Smokin (Grant Buckley) which fought back on the rail.

**

THE rapport between Rachael King and the Paul Perry-trained Jamming continued when the five year old scored a tough win in the Horsepower Benchmark 65 (1280m).

They combined to win their third race from five starts since the horse was switched from Kris Lees to Perry and King has ridden the horse in all five starts.

“The horse is flying and just seems to have clicked since he came to us from another stable,” foreman Mick Rowland said.

“He really relishes racing for Rachael and that was a tough win and he is a tough horse – tougher than Gary Harley.”

Rowland was referring to the fact that Harley fell ill before the first race, was attended by ambulance officers, recovered and returned to work co-hosting for Sky.

King said it was not a pretty ride.

“We were three deep but he switched off and relaxed,” King said.

That followed a win over same distance at Muswellbrook at the start of the month.