The 2022 Mount Gambier Harness Racing Gold Cup is ready to dazzle this Saturday night when the Blue Lake city experiences a trots takeover.
All eyes will be on Greenwald Raceway where the lucrative Gold Cup will be the headline act of a huge night of racing which also includes at least five other races.
The big-ticket race is the must-watch event on the local pacing calendar and there are 10,000 reasons to win it.
Mount Gambier Harness Racing Club president Simon Phillips said all was in readiness for another unforgettable evening with a thrilling race expected.
“It is the highlight of the year,” he said.
“It is an even field and you can make a case for almost every horse to win it.
“It is the evenest cup I have seen for a while, so it will be very interesting to see who gets across the line first on Saturday night.”
Last year’s winner Highway To Heaven will not return to defend its crown having enjoyed plenty of success on the Victorian side of the border recently.
But Phillips said there was plenty of local interest with two thirds of the field looking to score a win on home soil.
Brent Howard has won it a couple of times and is riding Do not Need An Excuse.
Another prolific local driver in the past has been Rod Barker, who will be onboard Springfield Affair.
But one Mount Gambier based driver who is yet to taste success on their home course is Mark Phillips.
Phillips is hoping his luck will change when he teams up with Better Steam Ahead this weekend.
Another local yet to get their hands on the Gold Cup is Jayson Finnis.
Over many years fortune has not favoured Finnis, but he heads into the 2022 race in hot form.
Last Friday night fans got a taste of what to expect when Greenwald Raceway hosted a Gold Cup heat and Finnis stole the show taking a commanding win riding Royal Speech following a late-race charge.
Simon Phillips said Finnis’ time was less than a second from the 2190m track record as the heats proved to be a welcome reintroduction to the calendar after it was not held before last year’s Gold Cup.
“Last year we did not have any heats and went straight into the Gold Cup,” he said.
“We had 26 nominations, but copped a little bit of flack as a committee from locals who supported all year and their horses did not get a start.
“So we took a bit of a risk to go back to heats and unfortunately we only got enough for the one heat.”
With attention now firmly on Saturday night, Phillips said the club hoped to put on a full card of races, but admitted attracting entries was still a challenge.
“We hope to get six or seven races, but all depends on a fair bit of support from Adelaide because there are three races that are heats for the SA Pacing Cup, Trotters Cup and Derby,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get some support from the Adelaide trainers and drivers and fill those races as well.
“If we can do that we should be able to get a good program.”
Although holding big events like the Gold Cup are much easier now than 12 months ago, Phillips said it is still a battle trying to attract travelling entries.
“I think what has happened with all the COVID stuff a lot of the Victorians that used to travel down more often have not been coming over,” he said.
“It is because of a creature of habit where they do not feel like they need to go all the way to Mount Gambier anymore.
“We are starting to see a few more come, so all we can do is to keep working hard to provide a good atmosphere and facility when they do arrive.”
It has been another big season for the Mount Gambier Harness Racing Club with nine race meetings having already been held so far.
But Phillips said the calendar was not quite back to its best with the club rotating events with Port Pirie, while lots of work is still required to get the Gold Cup off the ground.
“We are still working in conjunction with Port Pirie sharing the meetings,” he said.
“It has worked quite well while we have had the covid stuff on and the numbers still not as strong as they used to be.
“We would love to get back to standalone meetings, but we still need to attract more trainers, horses and drivers.
“Maxine Milich our secretary has been doing this for a lot of years and is a fantastic organiser.
“Our committee and many others have helped a lot too because heaps of hours go into cleaning, mowing and setting up marquees, gates, flags, stalls and entry areas.
“Plenty happens on Gold Cup week.”
Nominations were not available at the time of print, but racing is expected to start around 6pm and Phillips revealed there will be plenty on offer for the fans who attend Greenwald Raceway.
“Hopefully we can get a fair few people out there Saturday night because we will have a fair few things happening behind the scenes,” he said.
“There will be plenty of food with donuts, pizzas and steak sandwiches available and the bar facilities will also be open, while on Friday night the Calcutta will be held in conjunction with the greyhound club at the Commersh.
“We will have the punters club for people coming along who may not be up to date with the form of each horse, they can pay the punters $20 to ride their money and see how they go.”
