David Gilbert
FOLLOWING Wednesday’s meeting out at Glenburnie, the tempo of local racing rises steeply for the next six weeks.
Cup time has arrived in the Limestone Coast, with three of the next four local meetings all cup fixtures.
It all starts next Thursday (January 12) with the running of the Connawarra Vigneron’s Cup meeting at Penola, one of the stand out meetings of the season in the South East.
Thank goodness we will see the return of the huge Vigneron’s tent where more than 600 people will live it up for the day, starting with breakfast.
What an enormous difference it makes to have all the Vignerons and their guests in attendance, something we have not seen since 2020 and, make no mistake, the Coonawarra Vignerons meeting does not rate if they are not trackside.
Last year, the Coonawarra Vignerons cancelled the big marquee – almost at the last minute – following an outbreak of Covid-19 at Robe over New Year, which put every social, sporting and community bodies in the region into panic mode.
Patrons at the Coonawarra Cup last year were forced to wear masks when outside and moving around and the attendance was the lowest ever in its 41 year history.
That meant virtually no atmosphere, but that will not be the case next week as we return to pre-Covid existence and everyone will be able to relax and unwind after New Year.
Then attention will turn to the Summer Cup meeting, last year held at Bordertown but this year returning to its base here at Mount Gambier on Sunday, January 22.
The end of the local summer cup season will conclude with Naracoorte cup day on Sunday, February 12
At Mount Gambier on Wednesday, locally trained gallopers rebounded to get the score on the board after Victorian horses won the opening two races of the New Year.
There were plenty of tourists in the above average crowd for a mid-week meeting.
LONG LIVE LONGFORD
A BREAK over Christmas and New Year in northern Tasmania for yours truly happened to coincide with one of that state’s iconic race meetings, the annual Longford cup day fixture.
Longford is a town, about the size of Penola, some 20 kilometres south of Launceston and a place etched in this nation’s sporting history.
Back in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, its streets were home to the Australian Grand Prix before the circuit was rendered too dangerous and moved to the mainland.
Longford is also the birthplace, for those who can remember, of former VFL star footballer Barry Lawrence who rose to stardom playing for St. Kilda in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Then a racehorse by the name of The Cleaner, owned and trained in Longford, captured the racing public’s imagination a few years ago by winning 19 races, several of those at the top level in Melbourne.
It has not always been beer and skittles for the Longford Racing Club, as the powers that be in Tasmanian racing decided to cease racing there in the 1980’s and have the Longford club race at Mowbray, Launceston.
What a disaster that proved to be, as the Tasmanian sporting public refused to accept the move and officials relented by reopening the Longford track for racing in 1988.
The club has not looked back since and people from mainly northern Tasmania have supported the club to the hilt since, with crowds of 4-5,000 the norm on New Year’s day.
Longford racetrack has the backdrop of the Eastern Tiers mountain range and is ringed by large English pines and hawthorn-lined roads on the edge of the tow
Longford racecourse is very much a fine weather venue, with the only cover provided by a few trees and the antique wooden grandstand which can hold about 200 people.
The general set up is all rather old and in a very confined space, with the bookies ring out in the open, the secretary’s office jammed in a small room under the grandstand and there are no winners and place stalls for the horses when they return to scale.
The grandstand is named after Jim Osborne, a legend of the club who raced several horses and served many years on the Longford committee.
When the grandstand was gutted by fire in 1991, there was no money in the club’s coffers to replace it and Jim called a public meeting in Longford to get support to rebuild it.
He had to raise $140,000 and have it built by New Year’s Day, which everyone said was impossible.
But they underestimated Jim’s influence and determination and, instead of erecting a flash new grandstand, a replica of the old one was erected in time for the next race meeting.
The track itself is very tight, with only a 200-metre straight and is the Moonee Valley of Tasmanian racing.
People of all ages have made it a tradition to gather at the races on New Year’s Day, helped by the fact BYO food and drink is not only allowed, but encouraged.
Small, open air marquees, filled with families and friends, lined the outside running rail for 300 metres on the turn out of the straight and it brought back memories to me of the glory days of Oakbank.
Do you recall when it was a big thing to have the local city band playing on cup days?
It still happens at Longford and it was the city of Launceston RSL pipes and drums who added a Scottish flavour to the day as they wandered around the course.
The crowd of more than 4,000 were also entertained by a younger band and they were in raptures when locally-trained horses filled the placings in the Longford Cup, with leading Tasmanian trainer John Blacker providing the quinella.
It was reported in the Launceston paper “The Examiner” the following day the meeting was held “in sweltering conditions”.
The thirst of the locals was such that the public bar, set up in a caravan, had run out of a certain brand of beer just after race two.
Yes, it was a tad humid but I have never regarded 27 degrees as being “sweltering” but, then again, northern Tasmanian is not accustomed to very hot days.
Having visited Tasmania several times in the past decade, I was rather astounded to find a couple of my favourite restaurants – in Longford and Deloraine – closed for the entire Christmas/New Year period.
I can only assume they make plenty of money during the rest of the year to live comfortably and not bother with the tourist trade over the festive season.
Getting a decent meal after the Longford races was a task in itself.
Of the three local hotels, one was closed, the middle pub was open but never serves meals on any day, while the remaining hotel offered take away pizzas only.
Suddenly a mini supermarket offering cooked chicken became appealing.
EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE
JUST how good is the Jeff Searle trained Turf Decision?
The gelding was impressive winning a BM 62 at Bordertown on December 11 and then put up an exceptional performance to win at Murray Bridge last Monday.
That was in similar company over 1200 metres and he did so after missing the start by three lengths.
A solid second favourite at $3.50, Turf Decision looked to be floundering at the 250 metres before storming home for jockey Dominc Tourneur to grab the spoils in the final few strides.
