Down Under Racing Quambone Cup

DUR QUAMBONE CUP:  25th March 2023

The Quambone Cup is held once a year. The township in the far west has 29 residents, and the area has 129. It is one of the remotest places in NSW, and nearby Sandy Camp is the last known location in NSW where Aboriginal people were observed to live a traditional life as late as 1890.

The township has a pub, a school and a post office. It also has the world’s smallest library. Water is sourced from a local bore.
The pub “The Sundowner” only has 4 rooms so race goers, traveling from as far as Dubbo or Lightning Ridge, either camp at the remote bush grounds or stay at the racetrack – usually in swags.

The track is perfectly flat with the nearest hill being 45km away. The surface is bush grass, (other wise known as dust and sand held together with a few tussocks of not much – full of cat heads and red ants).

Recent floods have seen the area bloom, which in turn has created a mice plague – which has swollen the number of deadly western brown snakes in the area. Keep your shoes on and make plenty of noise! (writers note – the local beer is the best cure for snake bite) – Dingo333

Welcome to the Quambone Cup held at The Marthaguy Picnic Race club, In the remote NSW (591km (367Miles) northwest of Sydney) the place is so remote, google hasn’t even bothered to send bots out to take photos of each house.

Today’s track is rated a Dust bowl, with each person in town keeping a years supply of grass clippings to cover the track, the only thing growing on the track itself are some weeds sprinkled on the very outside fence, but that hasn’t dampened the spirits of Racegoers with Fashions on the field was a hot contest between Eliza, Mindy and Tricia With all frocks sourced from the local Op shop in Coonamble, 56 Km away. After long deliberations judges decided that all 3 Ladies looked beautiful and they shared the $1000 Prize. The Men’s competition was a very interesting affair.

Chips showed up with a suit that looked like a checkered flag, Johnno and Guru wore matching outfits consisting of a tuxedo T-shirt King Gee work shorts and steel capped boots, Yellowdog had his normal yellow suit with matching shoes, he basically looked like a naked Homer Simpson. Kim wore knee high shorts and a red waist coat, but it was a little hot so he didn’t bother with a shirt, and he had some trouble with blisters, that were caused by the clogs he had. He went most of the day barefoot. Lindsypark wore his jockey colors. While looking similar to Kim, Woette had a Tunic and a beret. Crawf was busy running the Calcutta, Rowdy and Elvin were busy taking the bets while Magoo was so worried about Sunburn, he decided to stay in the tent and serve the drinks with Tulloch.

So it was down to Groupies, KSparrow and Nowherman to decide the winner. Sjmoela took the microphone ‘And the winner is’…….. suddenly, the outhouse door flung open, Smithy came bursting out, unfortunately he had yet to buckle up his pants and they fell down causing him to fall face 1^st into the dusty ground. Paramedics Mark and Elvin rushed over to patch him up while SJmoela made the announcement that the $1000 prize for the men’s competition was being put on the bar, with loud cheers from the crowd everybody rushed over to the beer tent to grab a couple of free beers.

In the meantime, Jockey’s and horses are in the mounting yard for the time honored Quambone Cup. Over 12F on the ah… turf track.

First into the yard is 4yo Bay Filly Savateo, out of the Guru stables. A winner of 5 starts from, 14 races, with a career best SP of 103 coming over 10F at allowance level, 2 starts back, She seems to prefer a wet track, and has been tried at the longer distances with very mixed results, the 12 Furlongs looks a step too far in such a strong race.

Next into the yard is 3ddds 5yo Mare Bullet Valentina, who has really improved a lot over the last 6 months, she is now on a 4-race winning streak with a career best performance coming last time out wining the Vision of a dancer Turf Mare Stayers race by 2 ¾ lengths with a slashing SP of 114. Beautifully bred  Dubawi x Dansili X Sadler’s Wells, she is going to be very hard to beat.

Next up we have 4yo Colt Work With Me Here, a good looking son of Street Sense. Of late he has been performing very well in restricted grade winning his last 2 races with a career best SP of 111 2 starts back, this looks to be a slight step up in class but should still be around the Mark. ‘Over to Dingo who has his trainer Groupies (AKA Simon) to see what he thinks’ So Simon what do you think of your chances today?’ I think he will run well, but I will be honest, when I set my horse for a race in the middle of nowhere, I didn’t expect such a tough field but if he can manage the step up in class, he could be a real chance, we just need to have the pace on from the outset’.

Selurnivek Has brought Stars Quest a Sea The Stars 4yo Colt all the way from California to contest today’s race, a Winner of 4 from 10 races, he had been contesting races in the Middle Distance category, but last start went out to 11.5Furlongs last time out and had a real jump in SP, jumping straight to the lead ad winning easy by 1 ½ Lengths, with a 117 SP, but the margin sold this horse short, as it could have been much further, can he sustain it at stakes level? He could be a major player!

Into the yard come the 5yo Dubai Destination mare Take Me Long out of the Johnno stables, she has been doing exactly what her name implies going long. 3 starts back she won an Allowance race over 12F on a wet track, before being tested in Stakes grade, where she ran 3^rd, but was a Full 27 lengths from the winner. Her owner Johnno is hoping for a top 5 finish, but she looks tested against this strong bunch. Time for the breeding barn.

All the way from Berkshire comes a quality 4yo gelding by Magna Grecia, in the form of Woette’s Dungeon out of the Woette stables, The Dungeon who has had 4 starts at the distance, has been racing at Alw level, running at least a place I all 4 of those starts. With a big 112Sp 3 starts back, of late he just has been fading on his run in the final furlong of the race. Likely to lead, will he be able to get the break on the other horses to see out the finish? Place chance.

Next up we have the oldest horse in the field Sconetastic, This 6yo boy has had a good career, with his best result coming in the grade 3 Manatee Cup in 2020, he is also a 2 time G1 placegetter in the Irish Derby of 2020 and the Movieland Turf Cup of 2021. In recent time the old boy has been running well and managed his 1^st win of the year at Allowance level last start. I’m not sure he is quite up to the level at this stage of his career and needs to get out I front to give the race a shake.

Zomonkiss is a 4yo Gelding out of Zoffany, he is a very lightly raced horse and could be the X factor of the field. After his 1^st 3 runs, trainer Mr Chips decided to give him the ultimate gear change, at that stage of his career, he was a bit of a rouge, since his gelding he has settled down to be a real nice horse. 3 starts ago he broke his Duck winning a 10F maiden on a wet track with a 107 SP. Then he stepped up in trip to 12F and won easily, he has since followed up with a 10.5F victory down in Tassie. While he still needs to step up in class, this horse could have unlimited potential. Watch the market to get a guide on his chances.

The Rasmus stables have brought Irish 5yo Dylan Manndar all the way from Germany to the NSW outback for today’s event. This is only 3^rd time this son of Dylan Mouth has been outside of Germany and the 1^st time out of Europe. He has been pling his trade over all sorts of distances and has managed just 3 victories in his 23 start career, but he has been consistent of late between 10 and 12 Furlongs, I expect him to get back in the field and try to make a late charge, but for me looks a touch outclassed today.

The next horse is Magoo’s class stallion Oasis Overjoy, whom Magoo picked out of a $100,000 Claimer in September last year, The son of Ulysses started the 1^st of his 3 starts for Magoo by running a stunning 120SP in winning a local stakes race in November, he followed that up with a 113, but was only able to run 113SP 9 lengths from the winner. In his latest outing he ran a great 2^nd over 9.5F in a Residency race that DUR slackbot has banned from mentioning in the chat. While the class of the field, the 12 Furlongs is a big Question Mark.

Another Oasis Dream horse headed down under is Frothy Oasis, trainer Yellow Dog has been looking forward to coming back to his homeland to enjoy some Frothies (Beers) after spending some time in Japan drinking Sake. The 4yo Gelding has been consistent of late at 9 Furlongs, but last start put in his worst effort for a while running just 97 over 10 Furlongs, a step up to 12 Furlongs looks a step too far at this stage. To be completely unfair this thing couldn’t catch Covid from 1000 Bats in a wet market in Wuhan, No chance!

Last and also the least comes a 4yo Filly by Kitten’s Joy called My Bella Donna, this this is so fat and slow it should be called my Donna Kebab. I’m only kidding, she isn’t that bad, she has managed 3 wins from her 14 starts. She was beaten 10.5 lengths last start over 8 Furlongs, but she to me, may have some potential on the Dirt over the longer trips, and given the dusty nature of today’s track, she might pick up a check.

I’m not going to go out on a limb and pick a winner, good luck to all competitors and may my horse win!