BY TOM BARBER (Daily Liberal, 31 December 2022)

A win at Orange on Friday has Brett Robb's Great Buy in a prime position to win the Gilgandra Cup.

Running in the Southern Cross Austereo Open Handicap (1400m) at Towac Park, Great Buy was too good late in the race, narrowly kicking away to take a close win.

After his win on Friday, the six-year-old gelding will have the weekend to recover before possibly travelling to Gilgandra on Monday for the club's annual Cup day.

Speaking to Sky Thoroughbred Central after the win at Towac Park, Robb said the Soft 5 track conditions suited the gelding perfectly.

"He's been going good the horse but he has been racing all through the winter and doesn't like the wet," he said.

"He's back on top of the ground now and he likes that so he must have known today was his last day.

"He is going to head to Alice Springs now and do the carnival up there, hopefully, he goes good up there."

The gelding got out of barrier one reasonably well and opted to sit on the rail through the opening stages of the race as Island Press ($10) led the field from Larnyx ($6.50).

Great Buy ($4.20) sat four back from the leader as the field pushed towards the straight as the Brett Thompson-trained Larynx made a move for the lead.

Larnyx showed wonderful speed in perfect racing conditions and looked to kick away for what was going to be an easy win but it wasn't the case.

Apprentice jockey Jake Barrett seemingly found some speed out of Robb's gelding as the pair powered from fourth place to narrowly edge out Larnyx on the line, taking the victory in the process.

Redente Choice ($19) finished a respectful third ahead of Peter Robl's Dom Tycoon ($5.50).

More than deserving of a break, Great Buy could line up for Robb in the Gilgandra Service Club Co-op Gilgandra Cup (1600m) on Monday should the trainer elect to go.

Following the win, Racing NSW opted to give Great Buy an extra two kilograms in weight as a result of the victory.

As it is Robb's only hope in the race, at the time of publication the gelding was still in the field for the race which features a host of trainers from around Dubbo.

Gilgandra trainer Kieren Hazelton could have as many as four chances in his local Cup with Corvo, Sizzling Star, Zamali and Blue Channel.

Peter Stanley's Not Negotiating will be hoping it can win a second race in three starts while Cheptegi (Michael Mulholland) and Careering Away (Garry Lunn) will also run.

Bryan Dixon and Clint Lundholm both have horses which were listed as emergencies for the Cup.