2023 Snake Gully Cup winner Nick Heywood with trainer of Suparazi, Ben Brisbourne.
Full fields of 12 runners will hit the track on Friday and it looks like they will also on Saturday as acceptances came out for Snake Gully Cup Day (Wednesday information release) with the Hair of the Dog Day meeting announced today (Thursday). A number of trainers already had their jockeys nominated to ride their thoroughbreds on Wednesday, while others will be busy ringing agents to secure their hoop.
Well over half a million dollars is up for grabs across the two day carnival which will see the famous Snake Gully Cup set to be held without last year’s winner Suparazi which was ridden by Nick Heywood.
The 6 year old chestnut mare placed third in the Big Dance at Randwick on November 5 and has now amassed over $830,000 from 36 careers starts.
The Cup has attracted glamour mare Asgarda, who will be ridden by former Gundagai man and still a Gundagai man at heart, Billy Owen, who now resides in Canberra.
The Doug Gorrel trained 5 year old has had 16 starts for 6 wins, 3 seconds and 1 third placing with her prize money now sitting at $843,625.
Her biggest win to date was the Country Championship in April where she claimed $654,500. She will be short odds jumping from barrier 5 and with solid form at Rosehill on November 2, where she was just 2 lengths off the winner last start, she should be hard to beat.
Trainer Doug Gorrel has a number of chances for the 2 day carnival. He told the Times, “I reckon Asgarda will be close to top weight.
Once the mare’s claim comes off she’ll get in with 59 and that’s a lovely weight for her in that sort of race.
By the Kooringal based stallion The Brothers War, Asgarda is an above average mare with a big future yet to come.
“We are very excited to go around because it’s a time honoured event and a lot of the boys are Riverina lads from Griffith and Wagga.
“It’s a nice race to win. It’s one of the more treasured races to win, but just as importantly if she can run first or second she gets a few ticks for the Big Dance eligibility.
“She pulled up well from Sydney.
“She’s had a really good prep. She won first up at Wagga in a suitable trip.
“There was no luck in the Kosciuszko and not much luck the other day in the race that was run against her pattern.
“I think this is a good chance for her to bounce back. I think she will take a power of beating if she turns up on the day and wants to do it.
In the Kosci she came home a bit late and ran out of room to finish fifth.
“She was drawn a bit awkward and they all went for ward and we had to drag her back and then ride for a bit of luck and she didn’t get a lot of luck and flew home.
“It was a super run and she probably just lost her cool in the last five or ten minutes at Rosehill the other day.
“It was quite a muggy day and she just lost her cool during the last ten minutes during the parade and around the back behind the gates.
“I think she will be a much calmer horse and she won’t over race, mind you she didn’t go hard in that race, but it didn’t suit her either. She didn’t like being left alone in front.
For whatever reason she just didn’t kick like you think she would given the tempo of that race.
“She’ll bounce back and I think she will be pretty hard to beat.
Gorrel was hoping to draw barriers 3, 4 or 5 and got his hope delivered, drawing 5.
“Barriers will play a massive part and it’s an even sort of race.
“If we draw a bit of luck with the gates and Billy Owen has a bit of luck in running, I reckon she will be right there.
“He likes her and he said she’s certainly well above average and he’s a pretty good judge as a rule.
“We will go there with a bit of a spring in our step.
“I’ve got seven horses nominated over the two days of the carnival and just depending on barriers they will all start unless they draw poorly, we will have another think.
“They are all ready to go if they draw alright, so that is the main thing.
“In the ‘David Morrow’ I have a nice mare called Our Frankie and she might be the only one in doubt if she draws poor. I don’t know if Gundagai will suit her, but at the same time she is going well and is a nice horse and it would be a nice race for her, $50,000 race would be lovely.
The Gundagai-Adelong Racing Club hosted a Snake Gully Cup launch at the Gundagai Racecourse in early November 1 where the Snake Gully Cup trophy, along with The Tuckerbox trophy, were unveiled.
Both trophies have been crafted by local designer Joe Morton who took his inspiration from the pioneers of times gone by.
“If someone were to ask you to make a trophy for The Tuckerbox, most would probably make some sort of a tuckerbox, but that’s too easy,”
“Instead, I thought about the things you’d find in a tuckerbox – spoon, knife and fork, a billy, enamel plate and an enamel cup which we got from the Dog on the Tuckerbox.
“The inspiration for the Snake Gully Cup trophy was in thinking if the race was held 100 years ago, how would they go about making a trophy?
Fashions on the Field will see changes this year in line with many Victorian Race Meetings where like on the track the males are pitted against the females.
Suits, frocks and anything in between will be judged under the same category this year.
A shake-up in the Snake Gully Cup Fashions on the Field means men and women will compete against each other in each award category at the November 15 event.
“Instead of the gender-based categories of previous years, all genders are encouraged to enter any category, based on the attire they prefer,” a Gundagai-Adelong Racing Club statement said.
The move came as men’s categories were struggling to get enough entries at times, with the male categories sometimes being dropped altogether.
Opening the categories up to both men and women will keep the competition focused on fashion, according to coordinator Renee Lindley.
The Best Dressed Local category is open to those who reside within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council or Snowy Valleys Council areas. Best Dressed Visitor will be open to anyone outside these council areas.
The Best Suited category is again open to all genders and entrants both local and from afar.
Those entering the Best Headwear category need a statement headpiece.
Complementary styling is what the judges will be looking for, so the headpiece must be carefully considered in the overall styling.
Entrants can nominate themselves on the day with an on course facility set up near the main stage, specifically for Fashions on the Field entrants.
The weather is looking like a warmish 26 on Friday and a up to 29 on Saturday. The track should be in perfect condition with rain falling on the roof as the spattering of the wet stuff falls from the clouds as we type. You probably won’t have to watch out for the snakes or gullies, but look out for the handsome men and beautiful women alongside the shiny thoroughbreds and once a year punters.
It’s that time of the the year again, it’s Snake Gully Cup time.