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By Mark Brassel

The blueprint was drafted last year, so can a carbon copy be produced in Friday’s 59th running of the $150,000 Moonee Beach Hotel Coffs Harbour Gold Cup (1600m)?

Last year Attractable stalked the speed then bravely held off King of the Castle to claim the Cup and earn a ‘golden ticket’ into the $3 million Big Dance at Royal Randwick three months later.

The gelding then ventured to headquarters in November and raced away with the Big Dance’s $1.56m first prize for trainer Sara Ryan.

Attractable (Andrew Gibbons; red cap) holds them all out to claim the 2023 Coffs Harbour Cup. Image by Trackside Photography

“The Coffs Harbour Cup has grown to be an iconic part of the Mid North Coast events calendar and is a very popular raceday,” said Tim Saladine, CEO of Coffs Harbour Racing Club.

“We’ll have a large on-track screen, centrally located bars and delicious food options along with the popular Park Beach Plaza Fashions on the Field.

“It’s a Racing NSW Country Showcase meeting with $450,000 in prizemoney for the eight-race TAB program.

“The two main supporting races are the $50,000 [FM Glenn Constructions] Daniel Baker Showcase Sprint (1200m) and the $50,000 [Driscoll’s Australia] Ken Howard Showcase Cup (2000m).”

The Coffs Asphalt Super Maiden (1000m) is an interesting event as aside from the $50,000 prizemoney, it is the first race of the inaugural $5m Inglis Xtra Bonus Maiden Series.

Should the winner be an Inglis graduate from 2023 and beyond – and be paid up for the Inglis Race Series – a further $100,000 bonus will be paid to connections.

Of the 50 Maidens which will carry the Inglis bonus, around half will be throughout NSW at Country, Provincial and Metropolitan level.

Inglis Bloodstock’s CEO Sebastian Hutch said he’s looking forward to seeing the bonuses being won by as many sets of connections as possible.

“Through the Inglis Race Series we wanted to create an opportunity for more people to win more prizemoney more often and the Xtra Bonus Series allows for exactly that,” Hutch said.

“The hardest race for a horse to win is their maiden so we wanted to give every buyer and owner of an Inglis graduate the opportunity to win extraordinary prizemoney at the entry level of racing.

“The Coffs Harbour maiden carrying the bonus is a prime example; should the winner of that race meet the criteria of the Inglis Xtra Bonus Maiden Series, winning prizemoney will be boosted to $122,000.

“So, it really does represent an incredible opportunity for owners with Inglis Race Series-eligible horses.”

Just two days after Coffs Harbour another Big Dance ticket will be on the table in the $50,000 Forbes Bankstown Sports Club Forbes Cup (1600m) on Sunday.

The winner of the race will also be eligible for the Big Dance with Forbes Jockey Club preparing a monster afternoon.

“The Club looks forward to welcoming back friends from the Bankstown Sports Club who have been supporting this meeting for more than 25 years along with supporters from Aristocrat, IGT and Club Sydney,” said the Club’s President, Randal Grayson.

“Cup Day also has great local support from the Walker family, Forbes Shire Council and Roylance’s Tractor Replacements.

“We have a total of $295,000 prizemoney on offer on the day and racegoers are guaranteed great racing.

“Local action kicks off on Saturday night at Club Forbes with the Forbes Cup Calcutta which is always a big hit.”

UPCOMING NSW COUNTRY RACE MEETINGS
Monday: Albury
Tuesday: Kempsey, Bathurst
Friday: Coffs Harbour, Scone
Saturday: Gilgandra
Sunday: Forbes