The seven year-old gelding, trained at Ballarat by Melody Cunningham and ridden by Jarrod Lorensini, scored by just over half a length from the Brett Fliedner trained Blessed Award, with second favorite Unique Prince in third place.
It was the eighth win for the consistent Ziggi Rocks, which has finished in the top three a total of 27 times from its 62 starts and has now amassed nearly $250,000 in prizemoney.
The disappointment in the cup was the locally trained Zarsupreme, which finished last after starting a $3.50 third favourite.
Ross Purcell was hoping for a win in his home-town cup, named in memory of popular Jerilderie trainer Phil Sweeney who passed away earlier this year, after which Purcell took over training Sweeney’s horses.
Apart from the cup it was a successful day for the Purcell team, on a race day held in delightful spring conditions with a hotly contested six race Cup Day card.
The opening event, a maiden handicap over 1000 metres, was dominated by Purcell, who trained the quinella, as well as fourth and fifth placings.
The winner Credere, ridden by Simon Miller, started at 5-1 and scored in a photo finish from the more fancied stablemate, $3.80 favorite Hi Poppy.
Killawarra Lass took third place, from the Purcell pair of Marantelli Miss and Swing City in fifth and sixth.
Race two, a 1000m Benchmark 58, was won by the Olivia Osborne trained Miss Mouse, with a 1.5 length margin over Purcell’s Mr Brown Fox, from the Leon and Troy Corstens’ trained Dreamwoman.
The $3.30 favorite Anthemic was a disappointing sixth in the seven-horse field.
Purcell made it a winning double in race three when his mare, Zofferella, won her third start in the Benchmark 48 handicap over 1200m, defeating the Ledger trained $3.60 favorite Dreamnt Enough, from the Cunningham trained Go Now.
The fourth event was a 1300m maiden, taken out by $2.70 chance Mainbar from the Gawler-based Darren McLeod stable, defeating the $2.50 favourite Three Graces, with the Purcell trained Shallelujah in third place.
The final event was a 1400m benchmark 50 handicap, won by Outpour, which is in the care of Swan Hill trainer Con Kelly and was ridden by Josh Richards.
The five year-old was still a maiden before the race and not fancied in the betting, but was able to narrowly defeat favourite Eamonn’s Memory and second favourite Keith.
Simon Miller and Josh Richards shared the riding honours on Cup Day, each with a winning double.
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