Tuggeranong to Port Douglas: Matt Kelley-trained Gelding takes the Cup

That was pretty much Port Douglas' racing career until the Matt Kelley-trained gelding underwent a throat operation, which saw him go from "20 per cent air capacity to 95 per cent air capacity".

And that "obviously makes a lot of difference" - enough for Port Douglas to prevail in the inaugural $30,000 Tuggeranong Cup [1600 metres] at Thoroughbred Park on Friday afternoon.

Initially listed as an emergency, Port Douglas was a clear victor underneath Jess Taylor, finishing well clear of Sizzling Cat and Diamond Class.

It was a win made even more impressive considering what the horse has been through.

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"Running a marathon with a straw in his mouth is what he's been doing," Kelley said.

"He's definitely a nice horse. He's had his fair share of issues which we've ironed out now. He's making amends, he's definitely always had that ability there but we just had to fix up a couple of issues. He's a very nice horse and he has shown that in his last couple of runs. He's an absolute gentleman of a horse, the kindest horse you'll come across, so he deserves it.

"He's a lightly-framed horse, you can't knock him around. He'll have a couple of weeks off, patch him back together, put some weight back on him and then he'll go to the races again."

Much of the pre-race intrigue had centred on Stratum Pride after finishing among the top three in eight of her past 11 starts.

But those conversations mattered little after the Keith Dryden-trained mare was scratched in a frustrating turn of events after a downpour forced the Cup - initially slated for last week - to be rescheduled.

Meanwhile, Matthew Dale's Unique Prince saluted in the $34,000 Federal, which marked jockey Louise Day's fourth win from her opening five starts on the day.

Day was supposed to be on board Zedly in the Tuggeranong Cup, only for the Joseph Ible-trained gelding to be among the eight horses scratched from the race to bridge a city's north and south divide.

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