Loving Home has taken out this year’s Traralgon Cup, defeating
The Chris Waller-trained gelding finished Sunday’s Cup in 1.57.14 to take home the $27,500 winner’s prize.
Sitting in third most of the race, Loving Home mounted a late charge to chase down the Tim Hughes-trained Use the Lot and win the country cup by 1.25 lengths.
Tooleybuc Kid, one of three horses trained by Darren Weir in the race, finished third.
Weir-trained It’s a Silvertail finished fourth, while his third horse in the race, Honorius, came last.
The Cup marked Loving Home’s first placing since coming second at New South Wales’ Warwick Farm in #theraces (Bm81) on 3 October.
Latrobe Valley Racing Club chair Peter Walkley said this year’s Cup featured a strong field.
Walkley said one of his highlights came in race six when the Des Douch-trained Poppy Talk won the handicap race by 1.75 lengths over Sallanches.
“(His brother) Allan Douch is very sick and this was a great tonic,” he said.
There was plenty of action in the Fashions on the Field, with Kew’s Sara Handley judged the
Traralgon’s Tracy Maccubbin was runner-up with a tan and black vintage-inspired outfit.
Traralgon’s Sara Schulz won
Kiara Manning from Beaconsfield and Jordan Tichy from Noble Park were named
Walkley said while racegoers enjoyed a good day’s racing, attendance had failed to meet expectations.
“The numbers were disappointing – I think it (attendance) was about 1350 and we expected a couple of thousand,” he said.
But the marquees and corporate hospitality had received good support, he said.
“Fashions on the Field was hugely subscribed and an outstanding success and we probably had the best Cup field of the last 20 years,” Walkley said.
“We had about 350 people in the corporate area, it went very well. It’s just the walk-ups weren’t there.”
Latrobe Valley Racing Club has two race meets and is trying to secure a third but Walkley said the community needed to rally behind the club.
