It’s the Noble & Lee Twilight Christmas Raceday THIS Friday and we’ve upped the racing ante with the running of the Listed Team Wealleans Matamata Cup (normally scheduled in October).
The race reads as a bit of a who’s who of NZ racing with recent winners including names like Legarto, Vernanme and Tavi Mac.
Fields are out on Tuesday for this year’s feature so before we see who’s in the running for Cup glory this year, let’s take a look back at some of the recent performances to refresh our memories of the Listed spectacle.
2023 | Legarto
Legarto’s win took her to seven wins from nine starts and she was an unexpected starter in the race. Gracing her home track with her presence after scratching from the G1 Tarzino Trophy in the Hawke’s Bay due to unfavourable track conditions, Legarto showed her class, hitting the front after the home turn and asserting her superiority in the final 200m, winning by three-quarters of a length for trainers Ken and Bev Kelso with Ryan Elliot aboard.
2022 | Paisley Park
Wiremu Pinn settled Paisley Park, trained by Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall, back near last in the early rush for positions before improving into a striking position approaching the home bend.
Pinn got every inch out of the son of Azamour in the final 100m as he dropped on White Noise and Markus Aurelius to win by a head with the judge unable to separate the other two who dead-heated for second.
2021 | Vernanme
Topweight Vernanme proved too tough for his rivals when he produced a gritty effort to take out 2021’s race.
The Stephen Marsh-trained six-year-old carried the 60kg topweight for the feature event and rider, Craig Grylls, gave the son of O’Reilly an economic run in the trail behind pacemaker Crystallize throughout before angling one-off the fence in the home straight to make his challenge. Vernanme hit the front at the 250m and slowly edged away from a game Crystallize to win nicely by just over a length with the well-supported Frontman a margin back in third.
2020 | Tavi Mac
The popular Tavi Mac provided his many followers with another thrilling performance in 2020 when he took out the Cup.
The Tavistock gelding, trained by Allan Sharrock, carried the clear topweight of 59kgs in the event but he bolted clear in the run home to win by more than three lengths from Hay Tiger and Burgundy Belle.
Ridden by Opie Bosson, Tavi Mac was sent around to challenge the leaders and put the result beyond doubt within a few strides.
2019 | Polly Grey
Matamata mare Polly Grey scored her biggest career victory when she stormed to a convincing victory in the 2019 running.
The Matamata Cup was her first win at black-type level and she did it in fine style after racing wide towards the rear of the field before making a swooping run around the field at the 600m for rider, Sam Weatherley. Trainer Kylie Fawcett was holding back the tears as she waited for her stable star to make her way back to the winner’s enclosure.
“I’m just thrilled as she’s just so special to us,” she said.
A look at the stats…
Barrier 11 is the golden number in this race with four wins from this position since 2004 (the most of any barrier).
And Sam Spratt looks to be the jockey to beat as well, taking out the race three times since 2010. Given her recent form (aka incredible!), I’m sure we can expect to see a top tier performance from her in this year’s race.
Want to see 2024's race in person? General Admission is FREE or we've still got a select few sites left in our Christmas Boot Party area.