Celebrate this Australia Day in true Aussie style when Warwick Farm racecourse hosts the Vili’s Pies Australia Day Cup race day this Saturday, 26 January.
There will be a host of FREE activities to keep the family entertained at the Poplar Lawn including Aussie-inspired musicians, pony rides, bungy trampolines, a jumping castle, face painters, mechanical surf board and an Australian animal petting zoo.
The return of the popular Vili’s Pie-Eating Competition is also set to be hotly contested. Ten participants will be asked to devour five pies, with the first to do so being crowned the 2013 champion. Registration into the competition will be at the General Office on the day.
Increase your chances of maximizing the days’ winnings simply by purchasing a racebook. Should any jockey in Australia Day silks win on the day, racebook holders will score a free Vili’s pie.
On the track, the eight-race program is headlined by the listed $100,000 Vili’s Pies Australia Day Cup over 2400m. A competitive field of 14 stayers has accepted for the feature with six having won at the Black Type level.
Gai Waterhouse-trained Reuben Percival (Tommy Berry) has opened as the TAB Fixed Odds favourite at $5.00 in a wide-open market after running a strong second in the Gosford Cup a fortnight ago. He will face stable mates Travolta (Kathy O’Hara) who currently sits on the second line in the betting at $7.00 and race top weight Tullamore (Nathan Berry).
Knoydart (Christian Reith) will be looking to make it back-to-back wins when he faces the starter in the Bowermans Office Furniture Handicap for three-year-olds. The Peter Snowden-trained son of More Than Ready showed his talent when he stormed past the post five-lengths clear of his rivals at a mid week meeting on his home track on 9 January.
Knoydart’s main competition will come from Relaxed and Happy (Brenton Avdulla) from the Chris Waller stable who boasts an impressive 60% strike rate from his five starts and locally trained That’s A Good Idea (Glynn Schofield) who will be looking for his third win in four starts if successful in the race.
The MyBoyCharlie at Vinery Plate will see a competitive group of two-year-olds contest the 1000m sprint including Peter Snowden-trained Guelph (Rod Quinn) who will return to the track after running second in her debut run in the Listed Gimcrack Stakes at Royal Randwick in October.
The first race gets underway at 1.10pm and gates open to the public at 11.30am. The rail will be in the True position and the track is currently sitting at a Good 3 rating.
Source : Australian Turf Club
