Racing

This is the big comeback at Bong Bong after 3 years of no racing two due to COVID and last year due to track conditions. Don’t miss this great Highlands tradition, the race that stops the Highlands.

Several local businesses supported the initiative to display a pristine flag ahead of Derby Day in the Country and increase the Spring Racing Carnival atmosphere across Wycheproof ahead of a community event not held with crowds for three years.

How did the $600,000 18-carat-gold Lexus Melbourne Cup trophy land in Maldon at the Sandy Creek Clydesdales last Wednesday?  Since its inaugural journey in 2003, the Melbourne Cup trophy tour has travelled more than 900,000 kilometres and visited more than 590 regional, rural and metropolitan destinations.

The Gunbower Racing Club’s annual race day was held on Saturday, but in yet another blow to the club, the 45ml of rain received ... saw all horse racing cancelled ...the club went ahead with all planned off-track events and was blown away by the support of the almost 2,000 people who still attended ... “Our track was in beautiful condition, and that’s what made it so hard."

Many know Dianne Barnes as the successful para dressage rider, but there is so much more to the story. With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, Dianne and her mount Sorena are on a path to compete on the para dressage team, but this is just the latest chapter in a varied and successful riding career.

Lockhart Picnic Races made a return to racing after a three year hiatus with horses once again gracing the track last week. Racegoers gathered from as far as Melbourne to attend the event with around 1000 people filling the venue.

Lockhart Picnic Race Club

Jamestown Racing Club

Donald's race meeting on Sunday, September 17, was blessed with beautiful warm sunshine, suggesting that the Spring Racing Carnival has arrived. The track was rated a good four, with an upgrade to a good three prior to race three, with a moderate crowd attending the event.

Muchea trainer Alan Mathews’ fall from an unraced horse resulted in an operation and a short stint in rehabilitation ... Mathews, who has won six Perth Cups, said the accident that put him in hospital was a fall from a horse that wasn’t even going fast.

There is a spring feeling in the air, a hustle and bustle ambience on Broadway. Anticipation is building. “Derby Day in the Country” is almost BACK.   Get set to celebrate the wonderful Elders Mt. Wycheproof Cup Day this November – a highlight of the spring social calendar in the Mallee.

In the wake of IPBES' release of the Invasive Alien Species Assessment, CSIRO's Dr Andy Sheppard explains why invasive species are of urgent concern, providing key insights with a focus on Australia. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES; often described as the IPCC for biodiversity) released its  Invasive Alien Species Assessment  in Bonn, Germany, on 4 September 2023.

The Towong Turf Club has been recognised for the success of its annual race meeting with its nomination as the ‘Best Country Racing Event in 2023’. Returning for the first time since 2019, the awards will be presented at a gala event on Saturday. "We are absolutely thrilled to be nominated for the Kelly Sports Country Event of the Year," said Towong president, Al Mackinnon.

Shuttle stallions are highly valuable, male thoroughbred and standardbred horses who are ‘shuttled’ between the Northern and Southern hemisphere to mate and produce valuable offspring for the racing industry. Renowned for their race-track performance and historic pedigrees, these stallions will mate with some of Australia’s top broodmares.

Peter Hibberd. To be inducted into Racing Victoria’s jockey program is a dream for many aspiring jockeys. To win at your first race ride and join a very elite club, that is something else. Last Friday at the Donald racing centre all these dreams were realised when 25-year-old apprentice jockey Sarah Field won her first race at her first ride on the aptly-named Field Of Flutes.

Narrandera harness racing trainer Ellen Bartley now features in an American Harness Racing Update (HRU) publication. Born in Kyabram, Victoria, Bartley now resides in Narrandera and currently has 18 horses that she and her partner Blake Jones own and train.

Peter Hibberd. The association between the Charlton Harness Racing Club and Ames Australasia continued with the running of what has been one of their feature meetings of the year, Charlton celebrating the 4th of July, “Independence Day” race meeting ... Chief financial officer of Ames Australasia, Dale McGrath, has a very close connection to Charlton. Dale was born in Boston, but was on course to present a wide range of her company’s products to all winning trainers, which were certainly gratefully received.

Nhill-based Kermit Racing team recently completed their first event for 2023 at Winton Raceway, near Benalla ... Twenty-two cars finished the event, from 34 starters, with Kermit Racing finishing 17th overall and 8th in class.

The Melbourne Cup will be in Cunnamulla on Tuesday 19th September and Mayor Suzette Beresford is calling on the community to get involved and form a working committee to prepare and organise an event on the day ... In 2023, the $200,000 Cup will for the first-time visit Cunnamulla, former home to Darby McCarthy one of Australia's elite jockeys of the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Narrandera Race Club hosted an unexpected meeting on Sunday after an Albury meet was cancelled due to wet weather. The NRC received the call last week late Wednesday from Racing NSW to ask if they could host the meet instead.

A fiercely determined wind seemed to blow spectators away from the Donald racecourse on Saturday, leaving behind only die-hard fans and those in the industry to enjoy the quality racing on display. Aside from the wind, the weather was picture-perfect, and the track, rated a soft 7, was upgraded to a soft 6 early in the program, with the rail in the true position for the entire circuit.

Wean Picnic Races