THE Harden Picnic Cup Race meeting once again proved why it is one of the premier events on the district’s sporting and social calendars when it was held on hot spring afternoon on Saturday.
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The main event of the day, the Claas Harvest Centre Wagga Harden Picnic Cup, was won by Pointing to Gold, trained by Brad Witt, from Wagga and ridden by Samara Johnson.
The meeting drew visitors from throughout the district, the Southern Highlands, Leeton and Goulburn among others. Crowd numbers appeared up on last year, showing that the meeting is continuing to attract ever larger numbers.
The meeting was not without incident on the track.
Early in the afternoon a horse, Prefer, had to be scratched from Race 2 when it stumbled and fell over the fence before getting to the barrier.
Later in the day a horse was disqualified when the jockey weighed in 600grams light at the end of the race.
And a horse was also had to be scratched after the running the Picnic Cup as the its barrier gate opened slowly at the start of the race.
Trojan Jim won the first race of the day. It was trained by Peter Kirby and ridden by Alan Barton.
Stormy Angel, trained by Andrew Molloy and ridden by Nyssa Burrells, won the second race on the card, the Oxton Park, Demondrille Merino Stud Class B Handicap run over 1100 metres.
Race 3, the Harden Fuel Supplies, Thomsons Rural supplies Trophy Handicap, was won by Cookanulla, which was trained by Aaron Clarke and ridden by Billy Owen.
The ever popular Race 4, the Jim and Tess Irving Memorial, R and D Peisley Maiden Plate, over 1,300 metres, was won by Mr Destructo. It was trained by George Wright and ridden by Tim Phillips.
Love a Tiger took out Race 6, the Lube Alloy, Tegra Class B Handicap. It was trained by Geoffrey Crothers and ridden by Tim Phillips.
In the cup, itself, Poker Pro, with Troy Sweeney on board, came second and Gold Arena with jockey Billy Owen holding the reins came third.
No local horses made it to the winners circle on Saturday, but that shouldn’t stop next year’s race meeting being even bigger.