In Brief
- Bold prediction realised.
- Newitt overcome by emotion.
- Gaffney predicts bright future for Newhart.
A year ago banished trainer Barry Campbell and jockey Craig Newitt predicted Newhart would win the Ladbrokes Devonoport Cup and today the plan was realised.
Newhart ($6.00) delivered a barnstorming finish to overpower the leaders in the straight to score comfortably from Triple Strip ($19.00) and Speed Force ($4.00) that gave Newitt his sixth success in the race to equal that of Hall of Fame jockey Max Baker.
The gelded son of Fighting Sun stopped the clock over the 1880m in 1m.54.46 seconds to carve almost a half-a-second off the previous best set by Holy Cat in 2015.
In an emotional post-race interview Newitt explained how it was Campbell that played a dominant role in him returning to Tasmania to live after spending 16 successful years interstate.
Campbell was disqualified for two years over a swab fiasco in South Australia that led to the Tasmanian Hall of Fame trainer being outed for two years.
“I don’t normally get emotional about this stuff, but I came back to ride here because of Barry (Campbell), and I really felt for him when we won today because he earmarked this race for the horse a year ago,” Newitt said.
However, Newitt heaped praise of the Leanne Gaffney stable that has stepped up and taken over most of the horses Campbell had in his care.
Leanne (Gaffney) has done a marvelous job to get these horses performing at their best and it’s terrific to be a part of that team.”
Newhart and connections after the win.
Gaffney was elated with the win that she declared was easily her greatest success as a trainer and she is confident Newhart has a very bright future.
“That’s only his ninth start so he obviously has a big future ahead of him,” Gaffney said.
“We had a plan to get him in this race and it’s all worked out well, but I’m not sure where we go from here.
Watch Newhart win the 2020 Ladbrokes Devonport Cup.