Ronnie Stewart carves up rivals with a double at Doomben

Riding winners beats carving meet for a living as Ronnie Stewart delivered a one-two blow at Doomben on Saturday.

Ronnie Stewart rounds out a winning double at Doomben aboard Hell. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

Group 1 winner Ronnie Stewart carved up his rivals at Doomben on Saturday.

Not that long ago he was carving up meat for a living instead at his family butcher store in Adelaide.

Stewart rocked up to Doomben with just two rides, but made the most of it when he booted both of them home to win in a lethal one-two punch.

The Sydney Cup winner served up entree when he won aboard the Chris Meagher-trained Tessatori and delivered the main course on the Nick Walsh-trained Hell, leading all the way in a brutal on-speed affair.

After moving back from Singapore earlier this year, Stewart was learning the ropes in his father’s butcher shop to work out a career post racing, but said the feeling of riding winners beats carving meat for a living.

Hell holds on to win Race 4 at Doomben and that's a double for Ron Stewart! Another placing for Warby... pic.twitter.com/YUrCQjGew2

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 24, 2024

“I was helping the old man out, thinking he wanted to retire from it all, and we were going to look at taking the business over,” Stewart said.

“There is a lot of red tape involved and I reckon I have another good five or six years left in riding.

“The old man said to get in and have a look and at worst, it could make me appreciate riding a bit more, because it is bloody hard work.

“It has probably done that, so I have been back here a while now going backwards and forwards because the wife is in Adelaide, but she is going to move here now.

“I want to knuckle down and ride some more winners in town here, everyone wants to ride here and there are probably more jockeys than horses at the moment.

“I believe I still have it in me to be competitive at this level, that is for sure.

“I just needed the opportunities, so it is good to make them count.”

Meanwhile, the Brisbane duo of Georgina Cartwright and Lindsay Gough landed a sting 1700km away with Mahagoni to land the Cairns Cup.

Mahagoni wins the Cairns Cup! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/v3wEEN7RyL

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 24, 2024

The Stephen Massingham-trained Mr Maestro had been subject to an extraordinary betting plunge, with bookmakers putting up as much as $24 for the $4.40 second favourite on Thursday, however was only able to run fourth in the $150,000 feature.

Cartwright, who was beaten in the Mackay Cup a fortnight earlier on the horse made good with a textbook ride to overhaul new kid on the block Jace McMurray aboard Magic Conqueror.

Gough only recently received the horse from David Payne in Sydney after he purchased it online for $72,000 in February.

Connections collected $87,000 for their effort on Saturday, with the $150,000 Cairns Amateurs still looming in September.

Originally published as Ronnie Stewart carves up rivals with a double at Doomben