There is always an aura surrounding Harness Racing Victoria’s second biggest open class event of the season, the $250,000 Victoria Cup, dubbed by many as the ‘Cox Plate’ of harness racing.
Field selection and draws have made the race an intriguing event over the years, with champions from across the country hoping to cross the finish line and compete.
This year’s race will be held on Saturday, October 18 at Melton Entertainment Park over a 2240m medium distance course which, as usual, will attract a host of stars competing against Victoria’s best.
Let’s go back and think about one of the great Victoria Cups, the 2008 edition, which attracted a great field. The winner was the highly sought after local hero of Bacchus Marsh, Melpark Major.
The win gave Meltonian Don Smith, who bred and raced the six-year-old son of 1997 New Zealand Cup winner Iraklis out of Golden Forrest, his biggest moment in the sport. The horse was trained by the late Alan Tubbs and ridden by his daughter Amy, giving Don and his wife Bev a triumph to cherish after a lifetime in harness racing.
The field in barrier order is set up as follows:
Melpark Major – Amy Tubbs
Division (NSW) – Peter Rixon
Iron Hudge (NSW) – Mark Rolfe
I’m Sam (Queensland) – Grant Dixon
Robin Hood – Gavin Lang
Decorated Jasper – Jodi Quinlan
Gotta Go Cullen (NZ) – Anthony Butt
Mr. Swinger – Geoff Webster
Changeover (NZ) – David Butcher
Manwarra Goforgold – Brian Gath
Blacks A Fake (Queensland) – Natalie Rasmussen
It was a well composed field race for the bell, with Melpark Major, who had been at the head of matters from the start after safely holding the lead when the starter let go of the field, leaving I Am Sam exposed, Gotta Go Cullen following the leader, and both Mister Swinger and Decorated Jasper occupying three and four places along the marks. The changeover was taken back to the back, with Robin Hood stuck three wide for the first half of the race until Iron Hudge moved to that position and raced for the bell.
The field was tightly packed heading into the back straight, with Robin Hood moving four wide, followed by Blacks A Fake and Changeover, while the rest of the field was too far back to feature in the finish.
Melpark Major shot clear into the final corner with the race looking good, managing to beat Gotta Go Cullen by two meters in quarters of 28.7, 30.9, 28.1 and 28.3 without any problems, with Mister Swinger 2.5 meters away in third. The decorated Jasper was fourth, 12.1 meters behind, three meters ahead of Changeover, who raced home late after rounding the home right turn of the track.
The mileage speed was a record 1:55.8 (last half mile in 56.4, quarter 28.3 seconds). The gross time for the trip was 3:05.4.
As mentioned above, this will all happen again on October 18th when Victoria’s Trot House will come to life in ’25.
Through LED bakerfor Harness Racing Victoria
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