Ave ($6), trained by Don and Andrew Ryan, charged down the inside of the field in the closing stages of the $30,000 Benchmark 57 Handicap (1,400 metres) to take the most lucrative win of her career.

Staggering and Raise A Drop surged almost three lengths clear with 600m to go and Ave was a length of the field in last.

As the field rounded for home the two leaders continued to charge on before Ambitious Prince and Iona Nicconi mounted challenges on their outside inside the final 200m.

But it was on the inside where the biggest charge was happening as Ave swept home with a perfectly timed run to beat Ambitious Prince by a length.

“I was thinking ‘today might not be the day’ but she was aided by a really good ride from Eleanor,” Andrew Ryan said.

“Mudgee is one of those tracks where you can afford to be a bit patient because of the longer straight.”

Webster-Hawes would go on to win the $150,000 Country Championships qualifier with Dean Mirfin’s Cosmologist in the next race.

“From a Bathurst perspective it was an amazing day of racing with Eleanor and Dean winning their race. You couldn’t ask for a better fairy tale story,” Ryan said.

“I know some people had issues with the race being run but for both of them it was an amazing moment.”