Sport
25 September, 2024
Frock up for the Cup: Three features on Mount Isa Spring Cup card
Mount Isa Race Club is hoping for a big crowd at Buchanan Park.
Mount Isa Race Club president Jay Morris is hoping for a big turnout this Saturday for what is the club’s last feature program of the year.
The Spring Cup has traditionally attracted huge crowds on the back of the spring carnival heating up in Melbourne and Sydney.
“It’s definitely one of our bigger meetings of the year and we hope that we’ll get another good crowd on Saturday,” Morris said.
“The weather forecast is looking good – it won’t be too hot.”
With some big prizes up for grabs in the Fashions on the Field and five races – including three feature events – the club is hoping to get between 700 and 1000 at Buchanan Park.
“We race until the end of November and we have a couple of TAB meetings, but those will be held on Mondays,” Morris said.
“This is the last of the big days for us and, from a club perspective, it’s the last chance to build a bank before we close down for a few months over summer.”
The highlight of Saturday’s card is the $20,000 Cava Spring Cup (1450m), which also doubles as a qualifier for the Country Cups Challenge, held at Doomben later this year.
However, there are also two other major races that have drawn good quality entries.
The Country Stampede Qualifier
Open Handicap (1000m) will see the best sprinters in the North West go up against Barcaldine galloper Han Dynasty, who has eight wins from nine starts in Mount Isa.
Julia Creek trainer Tanya Parry has nominated the speedy Fifty Carats and Just Stop It, while Mount Isa’s Emma Morton is hoping last-start Cloncurry winner Theresabearinthere can make it two on the bounce.
Perhaps the most intriguing of the three features is the Lord Derby Stakes, a Class 3 Plate (1200m) which has a storied history.
Legendary Mount Isa jockey Keith Ballard said the race was named after the 18th Earl of Derby, John Stanley, who visited Mount Isa in the 1960s and became an infrequent visitor to the mining city.
Lord Derby was holidaying in the North West and was invited to a race meeting – they used to be held every Saturday in Mount Isa – and the club ended up naming a race in his honour.
Appreciating the gesture, Lord Derby donated 10 trophies to the club to last them a decade. He also made several trips back to Mount Isa from his home in England.
“They were beautiful trophies,” said Ballard.
“We had owners wanting to win the race just for that trophy.”
The veteran hoop said he had won the Lord Derby Stakes many times over the years, but his most memorable was on $17 outsider Bushmaster for Longreach trainer Joe Blomfield. Ballard had yet to make the permanent move from Longreach to Mount Isa.
The first race will jump at 2pm on Saturday, with big screens showing the AFL grand final.