Tesa Mining sponsors the race at the Sunday meting which also raised money for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.

Leading Newcastle trainer Kris Lees trained the winner with Dale Spriggs the winning jockey. Spriggs thanked the sponsors and said he was honoured to win the race named in honour of Thompson.

Thompson was on board another Lee runner, Prince Vilhelm who tired to finish near the tail of the field.

However, Thompson hit back two races later when he took $23 outsider Timezov Peace to a strong win in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service Maiden over 1850 metres.

Trained at Rosehill by Pam Webster, it was the 5-year-old gelding’s first win from 16 starts and was coming off a third at Rosehill 10 days prior.