Tim Clark's normally the King of Canberra, but he's lost his crown to Kerrin McEvoy. McEvoy already had the Black Opal in his suitcase from Sunday and now he's added the Canberra Cup to complete a rare double. It's just the third time the feat's been achieved with Clark pulling it off in 2017 and Glyn Schofield in 2013. Clark was going for his fourth Cup in five years, but he could only manage second on Fun Fact, who finished 2.5 lengths behind McEvoy's Mugatoo. Canberra trainer Nick Olive completed the placings with Maid Of Ore a length further back in third. Fun Fact took the lead into the first turn and stayed there going into the home straight, but $1.90-favourite Mugatoo proved too strong. While McEvoy has won both the Cup and the Opal before - the former on Jacquinot Bay in 2014 and the latter on Epaulette two years earlier - he'd never done it in the same year. But his wins on Mugatoo and Barbaric has changed that. "It's exciting. I think that's my second Cup and it's lovely to do it. They're great races and it's good to be part of the carnival again and he's a nice horse going forward," McEvoy said. "He travelled nicely. I had barrier one and I wanted to be a bit closer than he has been in his previous runs. "But he adapted to the ground and towed me through to the 400m when I asked him to really quicken, and that's when he went away. He's a talented horse that's for sure." The Kris Lees' trained Mugatoo was brought to Australia to target the $8 million Melbourne Cup and has now won three in a row since arriving Down Under. There's never been a Canberra-Melbourne cups winner before, with Super Impose the highest-profile horse to take out the Canberra Cup. That was the same year he won the Cox Plate (1992). Lees' racing manager Lucas Miller said five years of trying had finally paid off. Mugatoo was bred in Ireland and brought to Australia by Australian Bloodstock. Miller was full of praise for the condition of Thoroughbred Park after two days of racing - and some heavy rain during the week. "It's a great thrill to win it. We've brought horses down here for the last five years and [had] a couple of placings," he said. "Luckily we found one today that could win it. He's a very nice horse. "That's what he's purchased for [the Melbourne Cup] - later down the line. But we like them to go through their grades so we've still got autumn to come up. "There's plenty of options there for him. There's the Sydney Cup at the end of that. Could be the Queen Elizabeth [Stakes]. "Which way we go that'll be up to Kris and the connections. There's also Queensland, whether we go that way as well. "Luckily enough in Australia these days there's races every month that are worth good money. So we'll target any of those." MvEvoy also felt the group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) would be the first test for Mugatoo before there were any thoughts of Melbourne Cups. "Sydney Cup's the first one if they head that way. He's an exciting stayer obviously so we'll see what Kris and the team want to do with him," he said. Olive was full of praise for jockey Tommy Berry's ride. He'll now either head up the Hume Highway to Sydney with Maid Of Ore or head to the Albury Carnival on March 20. He was ecstatic with the inaugural Canberra Carnival - even if he didn't manage a winner. "She went great. She went super. She got a great run. Tommy rode her a treat. Probably didn't help her when they put the pace on from the 700m, that probably wasn't her style," Olive said. "But she did a great job I thought. Great to get black type for her as well. "Probably either head to Albury or there's a race in Sydney - they're the two options going forward."
