By David Nagel
A buzz of excitement is emanating around the region with the Cranbourne Turf Club (CTC) just weeks away from holding centre stage during Melbourne’s famous spring racing carnival.
After last year securing its first standalone date for its time-honoured home cup, the CTC is expecting to have the ‘full’ sign up as a large crowd attends the cup for the first time in three years.
The $500,000 Ladbrokes Cranbourne Cup (1600m) will this year be run on Saturday, 12 November, the program holding Metropolitan status in Victoria and boasting a magnificent prize pool of $1.8 million.
The Cranbourne Cup – which had a name change from the Cranbourne Handicap and was won by the Jack Holt-trained Tillius in 1927 – was last year won by long-time local trainer Robbie Griffiths with King Magnus.
The traditional cup distance of 2025 metres has made way for an exciting 1600-metre race where some of the best milers in the country will scream down the back straight at Cranbourne – parallel to the South Gippsland Highway – in search of the $300,000 first prize.
CTC Chief Executive Neil Bainbridge can’t wait to open the doors of the club to a full crowd.
“It’s really exciting because this will be the first meeting since pre-Covid that will be unrestricted in regards to crowds,” Mr Bainbridge said.
“In 2020 we had no crowd, and in 2021 we were only allowed to have 4000 people on track, so we’re hoping on 12 November that we will be able to double that and have a buzzing and thriving atmosphere again.
“General admission packages are still available in what we’re calling the ‘Fillies and Colts’ area, but otherwise we’ve sold out of all packages on course, there’s no marquees available and no hospitality available in the grandstand.
“I would encourage people to take up the opportunity of the ‘Fillies and Colts’ area, which will be a fantastic place, and encourage people to purchase a pre-admission ticket to make sure they secure their place at what will be the richest race meeting ever held in Cranbourne.”
Bainbridge said that last year’s switch to a standalone meeting provided the CTC with an amazing opportunity to showcase the biggest day on its calendar.
“The club has a fantastic race-date opportunity, we’re right in the heart of spring, we’re a week after the famous Flemington carnival, it’s a metropolitan meeting and there’s almost 1.8 million dollars in prizemoney,” Bainbridge said proudly.
“Only a couple of years ago, when the cup was raced on a Sunday, the prizemoney was just on $900,000, so the stake money has nearly doubled.
“We’re the major meeting in Australia on the day, which is a fantastic opportunity for our club to showcase our racing in a prime time for the sport.
“The cup is worth half a million dollars, and for the first time will be the Ladbrokes Cranbourne Cup.
“We’re delighted to have signed a seven-year deal with Ladbrokes which provides great certainty for the club.
“This raceday on November 12 will be the richest raceday ever held in Cranbourne, and that’s very exciting for the club and the local community.”
While premier country racing clubs like Cranbourne regularly spruik their cup days – this year, above all others, there is genuine reason to be excited.
The 2022 Ladbrokes Cranbourne Cup will be run the Saturday following Champion Stakes Day – the fourth and final day of Flemington’s Melbourne Cup Carnival.
But more importantly, the Cranbourne Cup will be run exactly two weeks after Derby Day at Flemington, where two premium-quality 1600-metre races will be run.
The Group-3 Carbine Club Stakes for three-year-olds and the Group-1 Empire Rose Stakes for fillies and mares will both be decided on Derby Day.
This provides the perfect two-week lead in to the biggest and best Cranbourne Cup day ever.
Ticketing options and packages can be found by visiting the Cranbourne Turf Club website.
