Twelve Months after they had to settle for the runner-up prize, Michael and Tanya Eberand stepped up a place on the dais on Thursday night, when Ebby Jet Power took out the Group 2 Maitland Gold Cup Final.
In 2020, the Eberands had Ebby Infrared in the final of the Maitland Cup, and he had to be satisfied with second placing behind 33-1 outsider Mottza.
Halfway down the long Maitland straight - in fact just a few strides before the line - it looked like the Eberands (Michael trains and Tanya owns Ebby Jet Power) may have back to back Cup second placings, but right on the post Ebby Jet Power, got his nose down and narrowly defeated the well-backed favourite More Sauce in 24.87s.
A close-up third was the Mark Giddings trained Amarillo Highway.
Ironically Ebby Infrared gave the Eberands a double when he took out the non-graded sprint on the card two races later.
Ebby Jet Power - who three starts earlier clocked a slashing 29.40sat Wentworth Park - has now won 21 of 45 starts, with the $40,000 cheque for winning the Cup taking his earnings to over the $100,000 mark, to $117,610.
"It’s totally unexpected," Michael said after the win. "I didn’t expect him to win and when I put him in it was an afterthought to be honest, but it’s all worked out well.
"I thought Ebby Infrared was a strong chance in the series after running second last year. Ebby Jet Power was going to stay at Wentworth Park through to group race (Bob Payne) coming up.
"He went super a couple of weeks ago there running 29.40s, then the following week, the dog from Victoria (Lakeview Cruiser) was wanting the same part of the track as him and he checked him all the way around, and checked him out of the race.
"After that I thought you can come back to the track you like every week but things can still go wrong, so I might as well have a throw at the stumps, and we brought him with us, and it’s just amazing. I cant believe it.
"It will take a while to sink in, but I’m just very lucky to get two (Maitland Cup) winners."
One of the strong fancies for the Cup was the Mick Hardman-trained Zulu Warlord who left his supporters stunned when the usually fast beginner, missed the start from box eight and from that moment, was never a winning chance.
