Sport
9 October, 2024
Massive fields for Cloncurry Cup TAB day as club considers an eighth race
Cloncurry's meeting will be broadcast all over Australia.
Cloncurry will on Friday host the richest program on the North West racing calendar as the club embraces a national audience for its Cup meeting.
Seven races were scheduled for the card, however the club was in talks on Tuesday to split one of the races after it received a massive 25 entries for its new feature event.
A decision was not finalised at the time of print.
“The Aviator” Class 1 Handicap drew nominations from all over North Queensland, with a number of trainers targeting the big-money race.
A brainchild of the Cloncurry and District Race Club, the idea was to put on a race with increased prizemoney to ensure that trainers and jockeys would come in their droves to the Friday feature meet.
However, it worked so well that the club was likely going to have to tip into its cash reserves to stump up the money to split the race.
In racing terms, splitting the race means that horses entered in one event are split into two, with both races worth the same amount of prizemoney.
The Aviator is worth $25,000 in total prizemoney, but what made the decision more difficult was the bonus money attached to it from the QTIS incentive program.
Club president Luke Daniels said the calibre of nominations from trainers from the coast and beyond, was a strong indication that The Aviator would be a long-term success.
“Over the years we’ve tried to add value to our races with extra prizemoney,” he said.
“A lot of clubs always try and target their Cup and the open races but we thought we’d try something a bit different (making it a Class 1 race).
“I remember chatting to Col Truscott (Racing Queensland’s country boss) and he said you’ll fill a Class 1 field probably twice over if you put a bit of prizemoney up for it every year.”
Mr Daniels said he was hoping to get a good crowd at Schumacher Park for the Cup meeting, with most locals likely to knock off work at lunchtime.
“We put on a charter plane from Brisbane and about 80 people come in on that,” he said.
“Nutrien Ag is putting on its Christmas party at the track and there’s a cattle function on Thursday night so we’re hoping those people aren’t too dusty and make it to the races on Friday.”
The club received some decent rain on Saturday afternoon, which helped settle the dust and soften the dirt track, Mr Daniels said, although he admitted he wasn’t keen on any more precipitation.
As well as The Aviator, there are two open races on the TAB card at Cloncurry on Friday.
The $27,500 Cloncurry Cup (1600m) doubles as a Country Cups Challenge qualifier, while there is also a heat of the Country Stampede (1000m).