Melbourne Cup Eve Race Night
This was an evening of action, trivia and remembrance. We had our very own race meeting with horses, jockeys and owners. First race was the Grovedale Guineas which was appropriately won by Gary Clark, one of our Grovedale Rotary visitors. The handlers quickly rounded up the horses and prepared them for Race 2, the Maiden Plate. Hotly contested by 4 female jockeys it was visitor Gabs Ransley who was first.
We had a quick trivia quiz based on the career of retiring jockey Damien Oliver. Did you know that he fell from his horse in his first Melbourne Cup? Or that both his brother and father were killed in race fall incidents?
Then came the video of the mystery horse Wrote To Arataki. We watched it win 2 weeks ago at Caulfield on Caulfield Cup Day. The Group 2 Tristarc Stakes saw Wrote To Arataki’s earnings soar to over $500,000. Then we took a look at the owners list. No surely not? G Plumridge is still listed, along with Helen. He is looking down from above as his horse turns into champion material.
We then turned our attention to the fashions with a number of the womenfolk looking very glamorous in their raceday attire. Gail Birchall prevailed in a tough field. Her black and white outfit was quite a stand out. The smaller mens field also paraded around the room. Martin Duke in an immaculately tailored maroon suit was very unlucky to go down to David Carlyle from Grovedale who was given the nod because of his up to date (un)tailored shorts and lack of socks.
After a delicious roast it was back to the horse racing. Four races had been planned with the winners to race off for the John McDonald Cup – marking a year since John’s passing. Race 3, the Surf Coast Stakes, was marred by some equipment failures and protests – but these were all dismissed and Amanda Hough was declared the winner. The Farrier, Mal Slater, was called to get the horses back into racing condition.
As he worked we had trivia quiz number 2 which centered on the 3 most successful horses of the 21st century – Winx, Black Caviar and Makybe Diva. It was decided to abandon Race 4 and the 3 earlier winners fronted up to compete for the John McDonald Cup. A close finish saw Gary Clark get up and Grovedale finished the evening as the big winners.
Bruce Smith had been working hard as the Sweep Manager, and most attendees departed with some chances in the real Melbourne Cup the next Day.
Epilogue:
The Sweep Winners were Kelly Binyon, Michelle Boddington and Deb Slater who all drew Without A Fight. A number of others shared smaller collects for the placings.
I tipped Maggie an omen bet at Flemington in Race 6, number 13. The Maggstar duly won at 25-1 but poor Maggie missed it.
And the John McDonald Cup is proudly on display in Gary Clark’s trophy cabinet.
Neil Henderson, Director of Fun