A SENTIMENTAL Chris Whiteley proudly delivered a Jupiters Townsville Cup win for one of the most influential figures of his career.

The top jockey, who served part of his apprenticeship with trainer Tom Mulholland in Dubbo, once again suited up for the New South Wales stable to ride Tora Tora Tora ($10) to victory in the $101,500 feature at Cluden Park on Saturday. It was a memorable third Cup win for the Gold Coast hoop, having also spent part of his formative years in Townsville.

"I've got a big soft spot for this place," Whiteley said.

"It's nice getting a win for Tom, I spent time on loan to him and while it was only short I learnt a lot from him. He was a great master."

And he came back to put it to good use to beat the highly rated Yield Curve ($4.20) and a rejuvenated Frisco Bopper ($21).

It was a calculated run by Tora Tora Tora, tracking the early pace of striking grey Line by Line while keeping tabs on the formidable presence of favourite Common Objective.

"I just parked him six on the fence past the winner's post for the first time and he just relaxed nicely for me," Whiteley said.

"And I was glad because we were just behind Common Objective which we thought would be the one to beat.

"When Line by Line dropped off (the lead) it was just the right time for us and while we hit the lead a bit early, I thought just go hell for leather and he just kept going."

And there wasn't anything that was going to catch him, deflating the field around him with his explosiveness and remarkable freshness at the end of an exhausting campaign which has seen the road warrior star in Rockhampton, dazzle in Mackay and finally triumph at Cluden.

Jockey Shane Scriven knew he was racing Yield Curve for second when the Tayasu Tsuyoshi gelding launched his final raid for the winner's post.

"Around the back I knew I had a lap full of horse and I just needed to get on something going forward and by the half-mile peeled out to track forward, then at 600m I tagged the winner as the go-forward horse," Scriven said.

"I wanted to peel off and windstream him on the outside and that run never really came, the one on the inside did.

"The winner was going away in comfortable sort of lane and I just had to switch back to the inside which cost me a little bit of ground. He (Yield Curve) battled it out really good to the line. At the 100m mark I thought he'd had enough and was going to run fourth, but to the horse's credit he dug deep and found a second wind."

It was another near miss for the veteran hoop, coming in runner-up for the second time in as many starts in the Cup.

And while he didn't deliver on his father's wish of scoring the North's biggest prize this time, he has left the door open for a return.

"Maybe another 20 years when I'm really old," he laughed.

It was an uneventful race for favourite Common Objective who featured as trainer Roy Chillemi's greatest chance to date to come away with a Cup win, finishing 10th. Last year's winner Flying Test put in the best run of a troubled campaign to run fifth