Andrew Mole, The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper
Everything and everyone are raring to go for the 2024 Moama Bowling Club Gunbower Gold Cup on Saturday, October 5.
When the horses jump for the $30,000 race, it will be the first time in five years it has been successfully run.
Damned by two years of COVID-19 and then years of freak weather events, the 2023 event saw a packed gallery enjoy a day of watching races on the big screen – races being run everywhere except Gunbower.
Long-suffering club president Vicky McGillivray is convinced this is the year.
And while she admits it has been hard maintaining morale across those four years, she says so much more work has gone into 2024 – including a major track renovation – she cannot believe anything will go wrong.
Even the longer range weather forecasters agree, predicting sunny skies and dry days.
“We have cleared up the bad patch on the track, I have lost track of the tonnes of sand we have spread across it all – as well as the two tonnes of fertiliser,” Vicky says.
“We have already had one track inspection by Racing Victoria and got a big green light and were very happy with the work we have done,” she says.
“And Rhys Archard was here on Wednesday and ran a horse around to see how good it was.”
And while seeing horses go round on the seven-race card will be such a welcome sight, Vicky says racing is just part of the celebration of the day.
She says there will be hundreds of people making the most of their trackside marquees and enjoying the day with friends, families and/or colleagues.
But one of the highlights will have to be the fashions on the field, which this year have a prize pool of more than $10,000 and will cover everything from the classic ladies to kids.
“The classic and stylish ladies awards carry a prize of $2,500 each, and the runners up receive $1,500,” Vicky explains.
“The open men’s racewear category will receive $1,100, teen racewear gets $1,200 and filly and colt racewear win $750,” she says.
“We will also have music with the hugely popular Darcy Ramage singing for us, there will be entertainment for the children and although most people won’t realise it, we will also be using our newly renovated kitchen facilities on the day, run by the Gunbower and District Development Group.
“And although we are a non-TAB meeting, there will be a TAB caravan operating here, along with the much more traditional bookies.”
There are hardly any left, but marquee bookings close today (Thursday), although general admission tickets are still available.
For those planning to make a real day of it, there is also a Gold Cup shuttle bus, doing a loop through Kerang, Cohuna, Koondrook, Barham and Leitchville.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 26 September 2024.
