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By Colin Hodges

The reward for Queanbeyan trainer Nick Olive making a first time visit on Sunday was going home with the Services Club Memorial Gilgandra Cup won by Just Go Bang.

To ensure Just Go Bang received every chance, ace jockey Kody Nestor who won his recent hometown Dubbo Cup on Sneak Preview was engaged for the mount.

After going to the early lead, Nestor dictated the tempo in the 1600m $50,000 Cup and Just Go Bang ($4.80) had enough in reserve to stave off by a half length the fast finishing Subuki (Michael Heagney, $8) which came from the rear of the field.

Just Go Bang (Jeff Penza) heads to the barriers at Hawkesbury

The 2024 Gilgandra Cup winner Sea Of Flames (Serg Lisnyy, $9) boxed on well for third with the Kieren Hazelton, locally trained Order Of Merit ($19) a handy fourth.

For trainer Nick Olive it was a big weekend having won the Highway Handicap at Randwick the previous day with Moritz Girl.

First leg of a Gilgandra double for Kody Nestor was the Mack Griffith, Mudgee-trained Stratified ($5) which enjoyed a perfect run behind the leader Artic Panther before clearing out to win the 1200m Paint N Plus & CC’S Dental Surgery Class 2 Handicap.

The horse scored by three lengths from Charlie Magic (Shayleigh Ingelse, $7) and Wandering Jack (Clayton Gallagher, $4.20 to $3.10 favourite).

Bred by the late Walter Prout from Gilgandra and trained at Narromine by Wayne Collison for his wife Robyn Douglas, the five-year-old mare Sisters Pick advanced an already impressive record to 7 wins and 5 placings from 18 starts when beating a field of smart sprinters in the 1100m North West Tanks-Bob Foran Memorial Gilgandra Town Plate.

Sharing the lead with Small Town turning for home, Sisters Pick (Jessica Brookes, $3.40 to $2.80 fav) displayed plenty of fight to hold on and win in very fast time from the late closing Driving Force (Nick Heywood, $5) and Standing Bear (Shannen Llewellyn, $10).

Stuart Canham from Coonamble landed his first winner as a trainer when Fast ‘N’ Ezy took out the 1600m Bowman Racing Country Boosted Maiden Handicap at Gilgandra.

Well ridden by Kacie Adams, Fast ‘N’ Ezy ($17) led from the outset and held on gamely to win by a half length from Apache Jack (Clayton Gallagher, 1.75 fav) and Under Achiever (Shannen Llewellyn, $8.50).

Star Stroke, the only other horse trained by Stuart Canham, later ran a terrific race as a rank outsider in the 1100m Three Rivers Machinery-Kate Smith Memorial Benchmark 58 Handicap.

From last, Star Stroke (Colleen Krahnen, $101) rushed home to finished third behind the Jan Bowen, Muswellbrook-trained Pee Dee (Shannen Llewellyn, $4.40 to $3.60 fav) and Chandon Star (Clayton Gallagher, $5).

Yet another winning double for talented apprentice Shannen Llewellyn who also led throughout on the Jane Clement-trained Don Quixote ($3.10 to $2.60 fav) to beat Manor Road (Hannah Johnston, $26) and Ain’t She Swell (Kody Nestor, $4.40) in the 1800m Gilgandra Toyota Coo-ee Cup-Class 3 Handicap.

The other winners both came with strong runs from midfield, the Ben Lees-trained Star Of Lullah (Daniel Northey, $8.50) in the 1100m Kelly & Astill Regional Lawyers-Len Kelly Memorial Maiden Plate and the Gavin Groth-trained Injair (Mikayla Weir, $4.20 to $3.40 fav) in the 1280m Ahrens-Walter Prout Memorial Super Maiden Handicap.

Gilgandra will next race on Saturday 8 February with the the feature race being the Tooraweenah Cup. Meanwhile, Orange will race on Friday and Dubbo on Tuesday 14th January.

View the full results with race replays for Gilgandra here