THE crème de la crème of the harness racing world will descend on Swan Hill tonight for this year’s running of the $25,000 3SH Swan Hill Pacing Cup.
Some of the finest drivers in the sport will all be vying for the highly sought after cup, with one very special return set to trump all others, with highly respected reinswoman Ellen Tormey returning for her first race since dislocating and fracturing her hip at Bendigo in August.
Tormey will partner the Julie Douglas trained Ideal Escape in the Cup, with former Interdominion winning driver Chris Alford, Miracle Mile winner Kate Gath and AG Hunter Cup winner Kerryn Manning also in action.
There’s little doubt that Tormey will be the popular pick among the punters, having been a regular fixture at the Swan Hill trots for many years, with Swan Hill Trotting Club president Noel Watson one of many who will be pleased to see her back in the sulky.
“It’s great to see Ellen (Tormey) down to drive tonight, it’s fantastic to see her back in action as it will be the first time she’s driven a horse in a race since what was a really bad accident,” Watson told The Guardian this week.
“It will be great to have her back and everyone will be just delighted to see her get through her first meeting.
“We’ll have some of the sport’s very best here tonight, such as Emma Stewart and Mark Pitt who are an amazing combination, as are Andy and Kate Gath, Jack Laugher, James Herbertson, who is heading overseas to drive and Kerryn Manning, who is one of the biggest names in the sport.”
It won’t just be the best drivers on show tonight, according to Watson, with a crack field down to contest the Cup thanks in part to the club holding firm on the prizemoney for their two biggest races of the year.
“We’ve been really strong on making sure our prizemoney stayed the same for our Cup events,” Watson said.
“We’ve kept it at $25,000 for the Pacing Cup and $20,000 for the Trotters, even though a lot of clubs are reviewing their cup prizemoney and even though we did too, we decided we would keep it at the same level and see where we ended up.
“As a result, we have a very good field in both the pacers and the trotters with plenty of quality horses.
“It’s good to see Shane Sanderson with Sahara Tiger coming back and also bringing Perfect Stride with him, and Julie Douglas has a couple in as well, but the two key ones for mine are Hector for Andy Gath and Like A Wildfire for Emma Stewart, they’re the two that standout.
“Having said that, wouldn’t it be amazing for someone like Sandra O’Connor from Mildura to come down and win against some of the biggest names in the sport, or Andrew Vozlic, who both support our club just about every meeting, and for them to have a runner in our Cup is fantastic.”
Like A Wildfire will go into the Swan Hill Pacing Cup as the short priced favourite having run sixth in the corresponding race two years ago.
Since then the Emma Stewart trained gelding has raced in some of Australia’s biggest events, including the Interdominion series, Kilmore Cup and Smoken Up Sprint.
The Andy Gath trained Hector looms as its biggest threat however, after finishing second in the SA Pacing Cup at Globe Derby two weeks ago, with Perfect Stride and Sahara Tiger also expected to start in single figures.
The action won’t just be confined to on the track, with the club also hosting their annual Halloween trick or treat event for families, with gates to open from 5.30pm.
“It will be another huge night with Halloween, last year was big and we’re anticipating this year to be even bigger,” Watson said.
“I was genuinely surprised last year to see parents coming in and getting involved in Halloween, that was an interesting concept that I hadn’t considered, but it was fantastic to see entire families getting involved in that way.
“We’ll have plenty of stations and more lollies to give away, there’s bucket loads of them and the kids will have a great time.
“We have over one hundred people already booked in for upstairs, including the new chairman of Harness Racing Victoria, Bernard Saundry, along with Dennis Bice who is one of the board members and Judy Rothacker.
“We haven’t had any representation from HRV for a number of years, so it will be great to have them on track tonight.”
As for a tip, Watson was going with the second favourite, who is expected to get a dream run from the back row.
“I’m going to go for Hector, I think he just gets a sit and finds the back of Like A Wildfire if Mark Pitt goes early enough,” Watson said.
“If you go too early on this big track you can get caught out, but if he jumps on the coat tails of Like A Wildfire, I think he gets home.”
