Despite persistent rain making conditions a little uncomfortable for patrons, Tuesday’s annual Melbourne Cup Day race meeting at the Bairnsdale Racing Club was hive of activity as almost 1000 punters took in the action that country racing offers.
At 3pm all eyes were on the big screen and the trackside televisions, which were tuned into the race that stops the nation – the Melbourne Cup – won by this year’s Caulfield Cup winner Half Yours, for trainers, Tony and Calvin McEvoy, ridden to perfection by one of the darlings of the turf, Jamie Melham (Kah).
She became just the second woman to win the Melbourne Cup (joining Michelle Payne), and the first to ride the coveted Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double.
Half Yours was an $8.60 chance and wasn’t short of admirers on track, with bookmakers reporting plenty of bets written due to the “Kah Factor”.
The rain might have deterred general admission patrons at Bairnsdale, who rock up and buy a ticket on the day, but those who were trackside were having a ball, with six-action packed local races and plenty of entertainment taking place.
On the track the riding honours were taken out by Trafalgar based jockey Jason Maskiell who rode a treble, combining with Sale trainers Damian Walkley (Heart Attack Jack) and Bill Wood (Moonlight Rustler), and Cranbourne trainer, Ray Besanko (Adiuro) to win the first three races.
Seymour-based father-daughter combination, Steven and Samantha Noble, were rewarded for making the trip, when Charming Di took out the 1200 metre BM52 event.
The most impressive win on the program was the Robbie Griffiths-trained, Gee and Tee, who loved to the heavy conditions to take out a 1600 metre maiden at $2.60, after running a distant placing at Traralgon last Saturday.
Sale trainer Sharon Trolove was all smiles when her 11-year-old Ripplebrook won his 11th race from 104 starts in the final race on the program.
The bay gelding has now won four races at Bairnsdale and boasts impressive stakes of $359,715.
