2024 RACE 1.
RAPPELLING with jockey Mathew Cahill wins the first race of the day for trainer Joe Cleary from Moruya
Photo by Mark Lee
The Cootamundra Picnic Races are here with horses leaving the gates for the first race tomorrow at 1:00 pm, gates are open to the public from 11:30 am.
The day will feature plenty of trainers both located near and in Cootamundra, including Cootamundra trainer Debbie Prest and Gundagai trainer Trevor McIllrick along with others.
Tips:
Race one, N1, Sally’s Kato. The Geoffrey Crothers trained runner is the class horse of the field, first run since January 11, ran 8th in a much higher class at Hawkesbury on December 8. Lone placing came on good footing and despite the big drop in distance looks the likely winner.
Race two, N1, Artieos. Despite carrying 6.5kgs more than the next runner the five-year-old mare looks to have a bit on her opponents, trained by Nowra trainer Warren Ganderton, she will be looking to go one better than her 2nd at Moruya three weeks ago and take her total prize pool just under $75,000.
Race three, N1, Sampson. Two starts ago ran second in a stronger race at Albury, ex Michael Travers galloper in the hands of trainer Mont Waters should break his seven race maiden with no real difficulty.
Race four, N7, Scruff’s Magic. Has placed three of his last four starts with the one missed being in harder grade, get’s in light for Michael Travers and should offer some nice odds in a six horse field.
Race five, N2, Celtic Harp. Connie Greig runner who should be hard fit third start in, has beaten runners home in this field previously and looks a hope in a tricky race.
Race six, N1, Spirit Lake. Wagga trainer Darrell Burnet has decided to run the four-year-old mare in the final race of the day rather than the penultimate, a decision he’ll be hoping pays off. The mare is beautifully bred by I Am Invincible and out of Navajo Dreamer and should give a sight to punters.
President of Cootamundra Picnic Racing Diane Williams is anticipating as big a year as ever.
“We have been washed out for two years now and even still ran the day both times with great success even without horses because we believe it’s very important for people to still have somewhere to get together and to make sure the people who travelled haven’t wasted their trip,” Diane said.
“Financially for us the past two years we’ve run at a loss. So we must get support this year because you just can’t keep running at a loss. We could’ve afforded to pull the pin. A lot of clubs do, but we did it for the people and the town.
“We still have to have security, we still had to have the marquees and everything running and we did. We did it for the well-being of the community in town and those who support us every year.
“Without horses and a bigger crowd, it’s struggling, and we only have five on the committee.
“We ran the TAB meeting for Young last year and we helped the TAB. The Turf Club is very good to us, they’re doing a lot of work out here now, but we need the support of the community to keep it going.”
Diane went into detail about what we can expect with the highly anticipated event.
“The gates will open at 11.30 and the bar will open. We are looking at the first race to be about one o’clock. It will be a six-race card,” she continued.
“The feature race is the Picnic Cup and our sponsor of the day is the Albion Hotel.
We have the bus leaving from the side of the Albion Hotel at 11.30 and that’s a gold coin donation.
“The Turf Club have been good, they’ve been out here working, they are painting, getting a new speaker system which is important because it’s really hard to hear as it’s a very old system and the fellow is here putting that in.
“The jockey’s rooms have just all been done up.
“We have this meeting on April 26 and the TAB meeting is on the October long weekend.
“A few races have been washed out so trainers will be looking for somewhere to run.
“We have a lovely fenced-off area called the winning circle and it’s seating. You can buy tickets for that. The marquees are all sold out, but there is still other private fenced-off seating that they can buy onto.
“They’re $50 a ticket and that’s the table, chairs, and umbrella in a fenced-off area with security so no one else can get in.
“We are having Fashions on the Field and our new thing this year is we are having a Gin Bar.”
Fashions on the Field offers lucrative prize money as always. The people of Cootamundra and surrounding towns are encouraged to dress up to their very best, get down to the track and enjoy a great day of racing.
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