By Colin MacGillivray

Horsham and District Racing Club officials believe the future of the annual Horsham Cup is bright after a successful meeting on Sunday.

A crowd estimated between 1700 and 1800 attended the race meeting, up from about 1500 last year.

Club president Jason Merlo said a return to the cup’s traditional Sunday fixture had helped after Racing Victoria changed the cup to a Friday meeting from 2014 to 2017.

He said a move back to Sunday had satisfied both racegoers, retailers in Horsham and the club itself.

“We’ve pushed from a Friday race back to the Sunday slot for the past couple of years and I think we’ve cemented our spot for a while,” he said.

“Attendance has slowly risen. Horsham is not a big racing fraternity, but people have supported it.

“The retailers voted, and we had to take into account what their stance was. They were missing too many Fridays because the AFL knocked one of their Fridays off as well.

“I think we’ll be slotting in on Sundays for the foreseeable future.

“You never know what Racing Victoria will do though – they can do some funny things.

“The only reason we went to a Friday for a start was because they didn’t want two cups on the same day.  Seymour has their cup on the same day as us.

“But Seymour is virtually on the other side of Victoria, and now that it’s come back, I think they’re quite happy with two cups on the same day.

“Whatever the case is, we’re happy with the Sunday slot and we’re quite happy for the crowds to continue to build.”

Mr Merlo said another encouraging sign for the club was the number of families that attended the race.

He said it boded well for the club’s family-friendly Santa Day Races on December 22.

“We had a lot of people on the main lawn,” he said.

“That shows you that people are going to start supporting it when you’ve got plenty of people and families on the lawn, bringing blankets and just sitting down and enjoying the day. 

“We’re building towards the Santa Day races and we hope we’ll have a good crowd for that one.”

On the track, spectators were treated to plenty of action, with New Zealand gelding Wetakemanhattan, trained by Matt Cumani, claiming the $60,000 feature after surviving a protest from connections of second place-getter Barry The Baptist.

Horsham trainer Paul Preusker also provided a talking point by bringing Melbourne Cup entrant Surprise Baby out for an exhibition gallop between races.

“There was a lot of intrigue with Surprise Baby and the horse galloped really well,” Mr Merlo said. “Being trained by Paul Preusker locally, if anyone wants to see it, it’s usually there on a Tuesday or a Friday doing trackwork early in the day.

“It’s good to have a local trainer have a horse in the Melbourne Cup, because that doesn’t come along every day.

“The closest we’ve had is Darren Weir in Ballarat, so hopefully everyone can get behind him and cheer him on.”

PHOTOS: 2019 Horsham Cup

PHOTOS: Surprise Baby impresses Horsham Cup crowd with exhibition gallop

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