Local lands first home victory New

Date: 07-Nov-2025

LOCAL trainer Phil Bobic continued a big Melbourne Cup week when Galpin became his first Ipswich winner at Thursday’s Oaks Day fixture.

Bobic has built a solid team of horses over the past 18 months and is now reaping the rewards, having prepared eight winners since July from less than 50 runners.

Galpin was having her first start for Bobic in the Barrier Reef Pools Benchmark 60 Handicap. The 1100m trip might have been a query for some, as the mare had won her maiden over 1450m in Victoria and also been effective up to 1800m in that state.

But after finding her feet early and settling at the back of the field, she showed a neat turn of foot under a daring Jai Williams ride to pick her way through the field and run out a dominant winner.

It gave the young trainer extra satisfaction, not only being his first Ipswich winner, but the ownership group being a real family affair, including his father Michael, a couple of aunties and cousins!

Bobic noted the family are all from Melbourne and this just happened to be their first horse after he scooped the mare up on an Inglis Digital Sale this year.

It followed Bobic’s success at the Gold Coast on Melbourne Cup Day, where Fast Fusion won a Benchmark 55 for the stable.

While Bobic was celebrating his maiden Ipswich win, the in-form Chris and Corey Munce stable added to their growing tally of ‘Swich winners this season by landing a winning treble on the day with Funky Zebra ($3.40 Martin Harley), Intruder ($4.40 Martin Harley) and Oberoi Princess ($5.50 Tahlia Fenlon).

The treble puts the Munce stable just one win behind Tony Gollan (8 wins) on the 2025-26 Ipswich Premiership table.

Ben Thompson shared riding honours with Harley on Thursday, also riding a double on the David Vandyke trained Hard As Brok ($1.30) and the Gollan trained Before Anyone Else ($1.60), who gave favourite backers a scare by being slowly away, before two horses ran off on the home turn, affording her a saloon run through the field.

Thompson joins Ryan Maloney on five Ipswich wins for the season, one behind Angela Jones, who edged slightly ahead of that pair with a shrewd front-running ride aboard the Tom Dougall trained Reggie’s Folly ($4.40).

Racing returns to Ipswich next Thursday, November 13.

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