Foster had dedicated the race to the memory of close friend and fellow Echuca horse trainer Terry Milner, who died late last week.
She originally hadn’t even thought about entering a horse in the cup race.
“I was taking a four-year-old gelding there for one of the maidens and wanted to put another one in the float to travel with him,” Foster explained.
“So I looked at the nominations and got accepted for the cup – with a good weight and then drew barrier one,” she said.
And it kept getting better.
The 1400m cup is her horse’s best distance and with apprentice jockey Madison Lloyd in the saddle her 3kg claim left She Won’t Leave to carry just 51kg.
And when the field jumped Foster admitted she could not have written the script any better.
“She jumped first and quickly gathered her feet and Madison tucked her in behind the pacemakers, which is exactly what I asked her to do,” Foster said.
“As they came off the turn the front runners rolled off the fence and Madison, who was hugging the running rail, went straight through and they couldn’t catch her,” she said.
“You could not have asked for it to go any better.
“I was so happy, and happy I had dedicated it to Terry.”
Foster said the horse had been training well had had bounced back after an unlucky run at Gunbower earlier this month.
“She’s a horse that tries every time she steps out and the country cups’ distance really suits her,” she added.
The weekend win has encouraged Foster to go after another country cup, with Wycheproof in a fortnight now firmly in her sights.
Saturday’s win was only She Won’t Leave’s second start this prep after a 25-week layoff so still has plenty of improvement and racing condition to pick up so it is unlikely punters will get the $4.40 about her.
The maiden Foster took with her – The Big Guy – finished seventh in a field of 10 and was also ridden by Lloyd.
However, it did not dampen the day for the young jockey, who rode a treble, winning the first and last on the card as well as the cup.
Fellow Echuca trainer Daryl Archard was also at Deni and his horse Magic Mistress with Brooke Sweeney in the saddle claimed the Maiden Plate by a long head.
19°C