OUTSIDERS RULE IN THE KALGOORLIE CUP

By Graham Potter | Sunday, October 4, 2026

The $150 000 Kalgoorlie Cup did not go to script as all of the three main fancies failed to find a place … with the race going to the $12 chance Royal Law (in from $15) who scored narrowly from the $61 bolter Sowar … who would have won in another stride … with Ginger Baker ($21), completing the rout of the favourites, in third place.

The Ashley Maley trained Royal Law, who also has a Geraldton Cup win behind his name, had to survive a protest from the runner-up before being confirmed as the winner.

At the same time that Royal Law took the lead away from Lavalier ($41) approaching the 200m mark, Sowar, who had been on the rail trailing Lavalier, lost ground momentarily when switching out around heels before putting in a huge effort, closing on Royal Law with every stride and having a dive on the line, only to miss by the narrowest of margins.

It was a big effort by the first two place finishes, as well as the Ginger Baker, who also hit the line hard to get within a just under a length of the winner.

“A credit to Ash who is training the horse,” said winning jockey Tash Faithfull post-race. He’s gone 14, 16, 23 … that’s a very big effort … and jeez, he was tough.

“It actually worked out perfectly for him. Halfway around I thought he is thriving on this.

“He can pull pretty hard, but a hot speed got him to settle beautiful … and then obviously I was in a position to get going early and he just gave me a feel he was going to be hard to beat.”

The Jester’s Son and Lillian … the second and third favourites, finished fourth and fifth respectively, while the race favourite Opportunistic never fired a shot and finished with only one runners behind him.