mmg.com.au

It was a ‘‘rough’’ finish in Saturday night’s $50 000 Neatline Shepparton Gold Cup with outsiders Our White Knight and Savesomtimetodream fighting out the finish.

Our White Knight, a $25 shot on the tote, got the photo finish verdict by a half-neck over the $27.80 chance Savesomtimetodream after both had got the better of pacemaker and $1.80 favourite Mustang Mach down the home stretch in the 2690m marathon.

Our White Knight was driven the perfect race by master reinsman Gavin Lang, making his customary sure start from barrier five in the standing start event and slotting behind Mustang Mach once the field settled down.

The Kerryn Manning-trained and driven Our Blackbird ran on well to finish fourth, 8.4m from the winner, while Smudge Bromac did best of the David Aiken duo in the race to finish fifth.

Lang said the ‘‘luxury of a good run’’ had got the desired result for the Brett Cargill-trained seven-year-old son of multiple Inter Dominion winner Our Sir Vancelot.

‘‘He was always travelling well and following the right horse,’’ Lang, who has been the regular reinsman for Our White Knight on the country cups circuit this season, said.

Melton trainer Cargill, who is well known to Goulburn Valley harness racing fans after a stint as stable foreman for Chris Lang a few years ago, described Our White Knight’s win as ‘‘his biggest’’.

Cargill, who relocated back to Victoria five months ago after moving between Victoria and Queensland during the past few years, was ecstatic.

The win means Our White Knight will be chasing even richer spoils on Saturday week with his win on Saturday night automatically qualifying him for a start in the $400000 Hunter Cup.

‘‘Things have been a bit tough recently, but we are travelling okay now,’’ Cargill said.

●Shepparton Harness Racing Club officials were delighted with the big crowd which turned out for the club’s premier meeting of the season to witness some thrilling racing on the 10-race card.