Cup tour proves big hit in Matamata
The Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour ventured to Matamata yesterday to celebrate the link between the horsemad township and the race that stops a nation.
The $200,000, 18-carat gold Lexus Melbourne Cup trophy began its New Zealand journey at the Hobbiton movie set in Matamata before visiting nearby Valachi Downs, Rich Hill Stud and Waikato Stud.
Melbourne Cup-winning trainer and Matamata native Mike Moroney joined former Racing Victoria chief steward Des Gleeson as the ambassadors for the tour, which also took in yesterday’s Matamata races, with 2019 marking the Matamata Racing Club’s centennial.
“As a significant thoroughbred racing and breeding region, Matamata is intrinsically linked to the Melbourne Cup,” Matamata Racing Club chairman Dennis Ryan said.
“It’s especially pleasing for that to be recognised in the club’s centenary year.”
Racegoers were able to get upclose and personal with the prized trophy and transtasman trainer Mike Moroney is hoping to add the 2019 version to the Melbourne Cup he won at the turn of the century with his grand stayer Brew.
Even before Moroney became a Melbourne Cup-winning trainer, his family had a special connection with the Cup, given his grandparents bred 1960 winner Hi Jinx. “I never thought when I was a kid looking at the photo of Hi Jinx winning that I would ever win one myself,” Moroney said.
“It is probably the only race where a lot of people from all walks of life know who you are because of the fact you won a Melbourne Cup. It is just watched by that many people.”
Moroney’s 2019 Melbourne Cup aspirations were dealt a blow when Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) runner-up Vengeur Masque injured himself in a paddock but he has an able back-up in imported galloper Sound.
Also hosting the Cup yesterday was Rich Hill Stud, co-breeders of 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Prince Of Penzance. Rich Hill Stud’s managing director John Thompson had a similar experience to Moroney, with media interest from far and wide.
“I think the romance of the story given he was trained by, at the time, a bit of a knockabout Aussie trainer in Darren Weir, he was ridden by Michelle Payne and he was a relatively cheap horse in the scheme of things as a $50,000 yearling in New Zealand, people could just relate to it,” Thompson said.
The Melbourne Cup Tour heads to Wellington today and on to Otago tomorrow.