RAILS RUN

Locally owned and trained galloper The Cuban, a perennial placegetter on district tracks, is building an impressive record in recent outings on the picnic circuit.

The 5YO bay gelding, trained by Dan McCarthy, scored at the iconic Dederang meeting on Saturday, following a win at Yea in late January.

With numerous local owners, The Cuban has raced 37 times for four wins and 16 placings, with wins also coming at Gundagai and Tumbarumba.

A runner-up on eight occasions is testament to the gelding’s consistency.

Local concreter Mark Nolan, a part-owner, believes in the philosophy “a win is a win, no matter where."

What's the record?

Former Wangaratta trainer James Fraser has posed an interesting question which may have the pundits searching the record books.

Get Ya Kicks, trained by Fraser, won six races on the Wangaratta track during his 104-start career, and Fraser claims this may be a record.

We know from history that in 1845, the first Wangaratta race meeting was held on a property known as Little Plains at North Wangaratta.

In 1857, the present site on the banks of the Three Mile Creek was selected for the racecourse.

The first grandstand was constructed in 1861 and replaced in 1874, and in 1907 the grandstand which preceded the existing new stand was built.

On the 25 April, 1908, under the new name of the Wangaratta Turf Club, the first Wangaratta Cup was run.

Wang Cup win remembered

Trainer Robert Hickmott, whose initial claim-to-fame was as a footballer for Tarrawingee, Wangaratta Rovers and Melbourne in the AFL, became the first footballer to train a Melbourne Cup- winning horse.

He won the Wangaratta Cup in 2017 with Irish galloper Our Century ridden by Ben Melham.

While he won’t have a Cup runner this Saturday at Wangaratta he has nominations in other races.