Luke McCarthy wins the 2023 Oberon Cup with Cash N Flow

Now instead of wearing a footy jumper, he wears colours that are synonymous with harness racing success.

Now instead of tackling Oberon Tigers, he tackles quality horses in races like he did in Friday night's Oberon Cup.

The headline race of the annual Oberon night staged by the Bathurst Harness Racing Club, this year's cup drew a handy field of local hopes and visiting raiders.

McCarthy, who is now based at Cobbitty, was one of those raiders as he steered Cash N Flow for his trainer-wife Belinda.

But McCarthy is a raider who is well versed in how passionate the Oberon community is about sport.

"I used to play football at Oberon, I played for Bathurst but we played games at Oberon," he said.

"I remember playing there one day when it was snowing, as a kid I didn't think anything of it, but after moving to Queensland for 15 years, I'd die if it was that cold."

As an 11-time winner at Group 3 level and three-time Bulli Cup victor, Cash N Flow was the $2.80 second elect for the 2023 edition of the Oberon Cup (1,730 metres).

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Going from barrier 11, McCarthy found himself at the rear of the field with only Reactor Now, who broke stride, behind him.

But when the early speed came right off as the bell sounded, McCarthy took off and Cash N Flow soon relived the Doug Hewitt driven Rock Fisherman of the lead.

"I actually thought I was going to drive him with a sit tonight, it looked like there was a bit of speed off the front row and I thought I'd probably just have to follow Amanda [Turnbull] into the race," McCarthy said.

"But when they burn so hard early and then jam the brakes on at the winning post, I had no option but to go around them.

"They were going 31.6 [seconds], so where I was they'd slowed right down."

While Ranger Bomb moved up on the outside and was eye-balling Cash N Flow with 500m to go, the man who once loved footy in the snow showed why he's now a star reinsman.

He asked Cash N Flow to give at the 400m mark and as the 10-year-old balanced at the top of the home straight, his advantage was some seven metres.

That gap grew as Cash N Flow went on to win by 11.5m over Reactor Now, who recovered well after galloping early.

The final quarter was a 27.6 split as Cash N Flow won in a 1:54.8 mile rate.

"He went great and he's just been a good ole horse," McCarthy said.

"He had a few soundness issues after his last start, we spelled him and worked him back up and I think he's come back as good as ever.

"I love this track, I love coming here."

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