Mahratta recorded back-to-back Gladstone Cup victories at Ferguson Park last Saturday

“He is the quietest horse in the yard to deal with, but knows when he has a job to do and he knew the task at hand last Saturday,”

Gladstone Cup winning jockey Matthew Grey after his ride on Mahratta with majority owner Barry Gill.

An eight-year-old gelding shocked the Gladstone cup field last Saturday and took his place among Central Queensland racing royalty in the process.

Quoted by the bookies as third favourite when the gates flew back, Mahratta stormed home in typical fashion to claim his second consecutive Gladstone Cup for majority owner Barry Gill.

Gill, who owns 70 per cent of the gelding, said Mahratta was one of the quietest horses to deal with in the yard, however, changed when it came time to race.

“He just knows when he has a job to do and he knew the task at hand last Saturday,” he said.

Having been involved in the ownership of Mahratta for about a year, Gill stopped short of branding the horse one of the best Gladstone had ever seen.

“I would say he is one of the best but I wouldn’t say he is because Fab’s Cowboy won nine or 10 of them in his day and was unstoppable,” he said.

Gill said he owed an awful lot of praise to Mahratta’s jockey Matthew Gray, who steered the gelding perfectly on the sandy Ferguson Park track.

“We had the three kilogram claim engaged with Matthew taking the ride again after his success on him last year, I thought we stood every chance even against the talented Wrecking Ball,” he said.

With Gladstone conquered for another year, Gill now has his sights set on a southeast Queensland turf club event this weekend.

“We are entering him in a race down in Gympie worth $14,000, with the form he is in I thought we had better try his luck,” Mr Gill said.