Ciaron Maher-trained Ascension wins $50,000 Woodford Cup at Warrnambool.

Ascension, under the urgings of popular jockey Harry Coffey hung on to defeat Farooq and Westbrook Park in the feature race over 1700 metres on the eight-event program.

Maher, who trains in partnership with David Eustace won the 2022 Melbourne Cup, two months ago with Gold Trip but the former jumps jockey revealed the Woodford Cup victory is pretty special.

"It might sound funny but I've always wanted to win a Woodford Cup," Maher told The Standard.

"The stable has been fortunate to have won some big races but the Woodford Cup was always on my wish list. It's like a dream come true.

"I've still got fond memories of my dad John working as a volunteer in the jockeys refreshment room at Woodford meetings for years when the volunteers ran the day for the local Catholic parish community."

Maher said he was confident Ascension would be hard to beat in the cup.

"Ascension ran well last time in town," he said.

"I thought the 1700 metres of the Woodford Cup was right up his alley.

"Ascension has a high cruising speed.

"He was always going to be hard to beat once Harry got him to the front.

"It was a very good ride by Harry. He does a lot of work for the stable. The win is a great reward for all the hard work Harry puts in and I've also got to acknowledge our hard working staff they have done a great job looking after Ascension."

Coffey said Ascension was brave in his victory.

"It was a big effort," Coffey said.

"I was not super confident in the run. I was mindful of his big weight. My confidence levels went up at the 50 metre mark. Ascension just kept on fighting."

The lightly raced six-year-old may line up again in next Sunday's Koroit Cup at Warrnambool.

"We'll just see how Ascension pulls up after his Woodford Cup win before finalising plans for his next start," Maher said.

"Ideally, the Koroit Cup seems the obvious race but it'll all depend on what weight the handicapper gives him for the race. The Koroit Cup is another race I would also love to win as I played junior footy in Koroit and have a lot of friends in the town."

From his 22 starts, Ascension has won seven races and picked up more than $188,000 in stakemoney for his connections.

Three favourites were successful on the eight race Woodford Cup program. Wishlor Lass was an odds-on pop for Warrnambool trainer Symon Wilde who got up in the last stride to win a restricted race. Moetman and Ascension were the other favourites to win while Wilde and Danny O'Brien took the training honours winning two races each. Wilde's winners were Wishlor Lass and Mostrava. Lottacheek and Moetman gave O'Brien his two winners.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.