The thrilling main race was also marred by spectacular a fall at the 400-metre mark, with the William Baker-trained Tennessee Charm and jockey Josh Cartwright tumbling out of contention.

Tennessee Charm did not appear to get caught up with the rest of the pack, with both jockey and horse quickly back to their feet, however, Cartwright looked badly shaken by the accident.

But it was Ambergris' day ($2.40f), with the well-respected Sutherland claiming three solid wins on the return of racing to the tiny community.

Sutherland said he was confident in Ambergris' form, but correctly predicted that it would not be an easy afternoon at the office.

"It's never going to be easy in these kind of races, that's for sure, she's weighted up to her limit pretty well," Sutherland said.

“So really all of the Cup races around here have got the

ability to be tough races and 1400m is right about her limit and anything around that really can stretch her out.

“I told him (jockey Michael Heagney) to ride her out quiet

because she doesn’t like it when it shifts, and that track

has got a bit of shift in it, but I was very happy overall, she did what she had to do to win.”

Ambergris now has won 10 from her 55 starts, with

Sutherland praising winning jockey Michael Heagney’s ride.

“I thought she was a bit sleepy around the 300m to

400m, and then she had to come around on the last few

hundred with another horse on the inside,” he said.

“She kicked when she had to, but I think he might have

been a bit soft on her a bit when he realised he was going to win. It looked a bit closer than what it was – he didn’t want to knock her around too much.

“So now we’ll probably take her back to Canberra or something like that. This trip is about the owners, but it’s a good race to win – it’s worth $10,000 and she came here and did what she had to do.”