RACE day drew a huge crowd to the Woolamai and District Racing Club last Saturday with Popeye the Sailor trained by Christine Boyd and ridden by Ben Moffat out in front to take the win for the Alex Scott & Staff Woolamai Cup.
Longtime sponsor Greg Price shared his delight for owner of horse number four – Popeye the Sailor, Ray Douglas.
“A really good race and a really bright finish, we’re thrilled to see you and Christine take out the silverware today, congratulations,” said Greg.
Ray himself had a tumble off a horse a few weeks ago but was out there on the track with plenty of gusto watching on. Jockey Ben Moffat has earnt great success on the circuit and showed great satisfaction in bringing home the cup for Ray and Christine.
“I’m happy to win the cup today, but blood, sweat and tears go into these horses and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to sit on it today.”
During the winning presentation it was declared that Moffat was tucked away on the inside, but he put pressure on and eyeballed the leader and that might have just been the winning move.
The substantial crowd were on the sidelines placing bets on six races throughout the afternoon, firstly witnessing Summerhill, the son of champion European Group One gallooer and sire Frankel a convincing winner.
Race two was won by Here's to Jane making the trip from Colac for trainer John Slater and it made a race to race double for personality jockey Jack Virgona, met and acclaimed at the jockeys' room door by former Marcellin College classmates who declared Jack a more capable jockey than a fellow physics student.
Race three saw Dustin Dhahran a popular winner local trainer and trainer and "At the Picnics" co-hostess Dani Walker salute for jockey Sophie Clayfield.
Race four saw Grant Seccombe score a convincing 3.5 length win on Marco Spada with leading jockey Shaun Cooper getting his best result for the day on Whoopty Fizz.
The final race of the day was taken out by the Troy Kilgower trained Impel winning by a convincing five lengths for the stayers ridden by Henry Jaggard.
A feature of the day was the Eventful Horizons team that were assembling those in their best fit for the renowned Fashions on the Field, judged by Jess Odgers and Baylee Walters, where Karlie Owen was presented with first place, and runner up was awarded to Katherine Williams – the two-parading pastel colours for the summer race day.
After the presentation of the Woolamai Cup, Amanda Tinner of the Victorian Wakeful Club presented owner of ‘See it All’ – horse number five, Brenda Watts with the strapper award valued at $200 – the prize was awarded to the best presented horse.
“We are a club that encourages woman in racing, and today we were looking at the horse that was the calmest, and it was our observation that she was well in touch the horse.” said Amanda.
“It was a pleasure to be able to present the award at the event so well put on by Woolamai.”
The Woolamai Whirlwind Race Day is up next on Saturday, February 17 with gates opening at 11am.
