Sport
19 January, 2026
Jacob Stiff wins second central west feature at Cowra Cup
Raced at Cowra, Sunday, January 18, 2026
Less than five months since commencing his race riding career, apprentice jockey Jacob Stiff has already won two central west feature races, the Mudgee Cup for trainer Cameron Crockett in December and on Sunday, the Cowra Cup aboard the Michael Mulholland trained Shadow Dane.
Jacob Stiff (18) is apprenticed at Dubbo to Michael Mulholland who had the $4.40 second favourite Talkachino and the $11 chance Shadow Dane in the $36,000 Breakout River Meats Cowra Cup, over 1700 metres.
Talkachino was coming off successive wins at Tamworth and Orange however, did not threaten on Sunday while Shadow Dane hit top form.
Producing a powerful run from well back in the big field, Shadow Dane swept down the outside to win the Cup by a half-length from the Michael Travers, Wagga Wagga-trained pair Mathrin ( Adrian Layt, $31) and Dynamic One (Molly Bourke, $8).
The 1200 metres Cowra Lamb-Cowra Japan Cup is always a popular event and a capacity field of sprinters lined up on Sunday.
Last start Orange winner, the Gary Nickson, Warwick Farm-trained Zale as the $3 favourite justified punters confidence with a dashing display.
Overcoming a near outside barrier, Zale (Molly Bourke) began quickly and led throughout to score by over 2 lengths from Acheson (Jessica Brookes, $26) and Hellinda (Rochelle Wedrat-Kroezen, $6.50).
Inaugural staging of the 1200 metres Jeffs Joinery-John Jeffs Memorial-Benchmark 58 Handicap saw an impressive win by the Gratz Vella, Canberra trained Wonderful Mistake.
Getting close to home, Wonderful Mistake (Damon Budler, $3.60 favourite) pounced on the leading pack and won by a neck from Our Little Star (Zac Wadick, $4.20) and Can Do It (Robyn Freeman, $17).
The 950 metres Markey Saddlery-Reg and Rose Paine Memorial-Benchmark 58 Handicap was also run for the first time and the Marc Chevalier, Hawkesbury-trained Kev’s Girl (Claire Ramsbotham, $4.40) from a wide gate led all the way to beat Bolo Miss (Mathew Cahill, $4.20 favourite) and Desirous (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $6.50).
Making it three wins from the last five starts, the Clint Lundholm, Dubbo-trained Beauty Edge (Zoe Hunt, $6.50) established a nice lead in the 1200 metres Cowra Motors -Benchmark 58 Handicap and held on well to account for Deepwater Artist (Billy Owen, $2.25 favourite) and Soho Sushi (Adrian Layt, $5).
Following in the footsteps of his father Craig Hyeronimus (president) and mother Narelle Hyeronimus (secretary), Jason Hyeronimus is the new president of Cowra Jockey Club and he would have been very pleased with the big crowd on cup day.
