Corowa Cup 2014

Off to Corowa for the running of the 2014 Cup.  An eight race card, on a sunny Riverina day greeted us, but we spent a fair bit of time in the ambience of the members.  A big thankyou to Brian Scolyer, and the rest of the committee/staff for their hospitality.

Well the long drought of not having a local win the Corowa Cup remains in place until 2015, as for the first time i can recall, there was not one Corowa trained horse running. The victory of the Richad Freyer trained Sir Knight, way back in 1999,  remains the last time a home town horse saluted in the Cup.

The Wodonga Based Brian Cox,  was the succesful trainer this year. His horse Full Hand, superbly riden by Ernie Marchant, worked its way from the rear of the field to narrowly pip the favourite Via Facile, and the nine year old Gunner, in a tight finish. This gave me a nice collect by  having the pair in a Quinella and Duet.  Brian had placings at the last two Corowa cups, so it was great to see him get a winner in2014. It capped abig weekend for him. On Saturday he trained the Towong Cup winner, He’s An Angel, following up by winning the Echuca Cup with Minne Downs, on the Sunday afternoon. Great effort

Other trainers, and jockeys who did well were  the combination of Trevor Sutherland, and the apprentice Chynna Marston, who saluted in the first and fifth.  Ernie Marchant rode a double including the Cup, whilst Brett Cavanough trained a double. For the locals, not a great day at the office.

Mandie Jones was the best with her horse Hardenup winning race four. A frustrating horse it has often been in the top three lines of betting, then regularly finishes up unplaced after its run. It saluted on Sunday, pleasing many locals.  It was interesting to read later on that it paid $32-00 on the Victorian TAB, far less over the border. Hopefully this the start of a good run for the hosre, and the stable.  After that it wasn’t a great Cup for local trainers.  The Freyer family have trained some great horses over the last 80+ years;  horses  such as  Tautri, Glowhirl , Shakir, Sir Talaq, In the Field, Leica Falcon and many others, but are currently struggling. They had five runners on Sunday, none of whom were close to being placed.  However the hard luck story for the local trainers must go to Geoff Duryea, whose horse, Hearts Of Angels, collapsed after  the fifth, and will never race again.

I had some small collects on the day, though ended up slightly behind. Monday i had more luck on the tote, backing two nice sprinters, who have  connections to Corowa and surrounding areas. In Adelaide i had the classy Riziz, trained by  the Sweeney family of Jerilderie fame,  though in their Adelaide stable.  Also, in the last  at Moonee Valley, i had a nice collect with The Bounty Queen, trained in Wangarrata by the Ledgers. These two speed machines i recommend to my fellow almanacers. Any way enough from me,  it’s time to prepare for the journey to Ardlethan for the annual race meeting.

 

Comments

  1. Glen, I’m not a betting person but for some strange reason, do love the ambience of a race track…especially a country one. Corowa sounded like a great day; I went to Towong cup a couple of years ago, a beautiful spot with a fabulous stand and interesting history with Squizzy. I googled Ardlethan to check its location. A bit far for a weekend visit unfortunately.

  2. Ta Kate, i recommend Corowa for a nice day of Riverina hospitality. Next meeting is Queens birthday Saturday, then there’s a TAB meeting early July.

    Towong is a track i’d like to attend; it’s been on the radar for a while. Yes the Squizzy Taylor story is an interesting one.

    Ardlethan; yes it’s a decent drive , 650+ clicks from Melbourne. The plan is to have an ADO, or an A/L day on the Friday, leave in the morning, have a good night at the London Hotel, a top day on the track during the Saturday, then saunter back slowly, and steadily on the Sunday. Highly recommended.

    Glen!

  3. The Crookwell picnics are this weekend – another nice little venue in the Southern Tablelands.

  4. Glen!,
    You took a Duet?!
    I have never met or heard of anyone actually taking one of those.
    Next you’ll tell me you bet on the Jockey’s Challenge…..

  5. Next you will be putting Hinnomunje Picnics on the agenda Glen? You sure do cover some ground

  6. Budgey, i don’t mind the duets. pre duets i used to hate getting my two horses in a qunella, first and thiird, second and third. Duets solve that stress. I found pre-duets as frustrtaing as the ammount of fourths i get betting each way !
    Hinomnjue; some where in E Gippsland ? Can i be directed? Any how Ardlethan next weekend.

    Glen!

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