To A Degree ($3.00) returned to the track with an emphatic victory in the Tumut Building Supplies Benchmark 55 Handicap (1000m).

To A Degree bounced straight to the front and from there it was never in doubt as in-form apprentice Josh Richards guided the sprinter to a 2¾ length victory.

It was a timely win, with Richards wearing a black arm band to honour the passing of Jenny Molloy, the wife of part-owner Graham Molloy, who died last week in a tragic accident at Harden.

The win also came just a couple of days after the first anniversary of Tricia Anderson’s passing, who trained the horse before husband Rob took over the reins.

Samara Johnson, who passed away earlier this month in a car accident, was also the last jockey to win on To A Degree, and gave Rob his first picnic winner and Tricia’s last.

“The horse has had a fair amount of hardships attached to it so it’s nice to get a win today,” Anderson said.

To A Degree, who won four of his first six starts, was the class horse of the race and Richards’ three kilogram claim helped the six-year-old carry 60.5kg.

To A Degree drifted in the market, from $2.00 to as much as $3.50, as money arrived for Lightning Alert ($3.50), who finished second.

Anderson entered the first up assignment far from confident.

“The last start he had before he spelled was awful,” Anderson said.

“His work leading up to that was good and everything was right. He was never going to win that day, he was terrible. So we tipped him out.

“In the back of my mind I thought that he might not come back, he might come back the way he went out.

“He usually runs well first up so it was good to see him come back like that.”

Wagga trainers Gary Colvin and Trevor Sutherland both enjoyed wins with Boipelo ($4.20) and Oh What A Thief ($3.30).

Bryan Murphy guided Boipelo to victory for Colvin, while Oh What A Thief’s win was the first leg of a winning double for Jon Grisedale.

Oh What A Thief put the writing on the wall with a second placing in Benchmark 60 company at Wagga last Friday, before dropping back to Benchmark 50 non-TAB grade at Tumut.

“It was only that his rating started to slip down that we thought we could bring him across here and pick one up,” Sutherland said.

“He’s had a horrible run of draws. He ticked over $100,000 the other day, and he probably should have had $200,000 if not for bad draws.”