ridecamp@endurance.net: Tom Quilty Gold Cup - Preliminary Report

Tom Quilty Gold Cup - Preliminary Report

horseman@isp.com.au
Tue, 10 Jun 1997 00:43:42 +1000

I have just returned from Cooranbong near Sydney, where the 32nd annual Tom
Quilty Gold Cup has just been conducted.
Unseasonably warm, sunny weather made conditions testing for the 255 horses
and riders, as if the 160 km course wasn't tough enough in itself. The ride
started at midnight, Friday 6th June. The course consisted of four legs,
50, 46, 43 and 21 km.
The first leg saw several riders vying for the lead, including previous
winners Bob and Brook Sample of Queensland, Steve Vergis (Qld), Terry Wood
(NSW) and Brian Keep (Vic). During the course of the second leg Brian and
Steve dropped back, leaving Terry, Bob and Brook to sort out the lead in
the third leg. At the end of the third leg, Bob and Brook had dropped well
back, with Terry over an hour in front. The race for the cup was all but
over as the leading three riders chose to finish the ride conservatively,
the warm weather and humidity as well as a testing course all having taken
their toll.
Many riders continued well into the Saturday night, the cutoff being midnight.

The results I managed to write down are as follows:
1st Mwt Terry Wood NSW Peppersfield Nabucco 10:28
=2nd Mwt Brook Sample Qld Sharahd Cavalier
=2nd Mwt Bob Sample Qld Sharahd Caprice
4th Mwt June Petersen Qld Abbeline Electra
5th Mwt Searle Johnston NSW Too Soon
1st Hwt Ron Haigh Qld Al Meraine Ria 12:09
2nd Hwt Bill Standfield Qld Joseph
3rd Hwt Brian Keep Vic Doran Park Nimbus 14:07
1st Lwt Daisuke Yasunaga Japan Sharahd Lexia
2nd Lwt Anne Jones Qld Kim Dande Tara
1st Jnr Shannon Parker Qld
2nd Jnr Kristy McGaffin Vic Atara Proud 14:06
3rd Jnr Katie Marie Cullen Dealbata Siddhi
4th Jnr Richie Caldwell Ayunna
5th Jnr Cameron Cox NSW Jasmin Minstrel

Notable points:
Terry Wood has persevered for 21 years to finally win the Gold Cup.
Ron Males and Sue Parsons now have successfully completed the Quilty a
record 16 times.
Sue Parson's 19 yo mare Karumba Travellers Joy achieved her 10th buckle.
Stockhold WEG Team Bronze medallist June Petersen's horse Wertaloona Lionel
achieved his 8th buckle.
Daisuke Yasunaga has been staying and training with the Samples for 4
months and is on his way back to Japan now.
As well as Yasunaga-san from Japan, we had riders from England, Wales and
New Zealand.
Of the 360-plus nominations for the ride, 255 started and 142 completed.
As of next year, the rider qualifications for entry in the Quilty will
include a completion of a 160 km/1 day ride at any time. This means that
the large fields as seen at this ride may not be seen again.
The record number of starters was 293 at the 1990 Quilty (Myrtleford,
Victoria).
Next year, the Quilty will be hosted at Mt Pleasant, South Australia.

Luke Steele

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