Lady luck was shining bright on the connections of Matthew Dale-trained Royal Jackpot, which snared a $100,000 windfall for being the first sales graduate home in the Inglis Bonus Handicap (1400 metres) at Randwick's Kensington track on Saturday.
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Royal Jackpot ($12) was only slated as a second emergency but gained a run and then just pipped Poetic Debate ($21) in the final strides for fourth.
Inglis graduates wore different coloured saddlecloths to the rest of the field, which were led home by David Payne's Foreign Prince ($13) in a bold frontrunning effort under Winona Costin.
But the $48,750 winner's cheque paled in comparison to the $100,000 bonus – plus $4150 for fourth – Royal Jackpot's connections scooped.
"He would have been a short-priced favourite at Goulburn on Tuesday, but once we had a look at the nominations we realised he was a realistic chance of winning the bonus," the Canberra trainer said.
"Then we rolled the dice on getting into the field and it was only at 7.25 [Saturday] morning we got the call-up. I knew he'd be in the finish, but I wasn't quite sure which ones were the Inglis horses.
"To get the job done on the line and win $100,000 is a great result for the owners. The initiative from Inglis to put it on is why it's the only full field for the day."
