Dark Journey Wins Donald Cup

Once again, a very good crowd was in attendance to watch the 2025 Bet 365 Donald Cup.

With every vantage point occupied, those assembled witnessed jockey Harry Coffey achieve what has been on his bucket list for a long period of time, having narrowly missed out on winning the Donald Cup on a few occasions. Dark Journey, trained at Flemington by Jason Warren was a comfortable winner in the feature race.
As Harry Coffey said after the race, “We settled further back in the race than we’d hoped for, but the horse was travelling well coming to the turn; it had to come out very wide in the straight and ran past its rivals for a good win”.

Placegetters in the cup were Albanian I Am trained by Paul Koumis at Geelong and Surprise Coming trained by Mick Huxtable at Murray Bridge (S.A.). The race was delayed briefly due to the late scratching of New York Hurricane at the barrier on veterinary advice.

A lot more followers of racing are now enjoying ownership of racehorses with syndication; such is the case of Grand Syndicates. After winning the Ararat Gold Cup last Sunday with Cable Dancer, they were also the owners of the Donald Cup winner. Greg and Sue Brown are two of those people. Retired motel owners now living in Hahndorf (S.A.) have purchased a mobile home and have shares in six racehorses. Whenever those horses race, as Greg said, “We just go.” He also said he has raced horses for a long time.

At the presentation, chairman Leigh Herben spoke of the work his committee had done, with special mention to club manager Penny Penfold, track manager Oscar Hier, and the Colts and Geldings sub-committees. He also thanked all the sponsors without which, the club would not be able to function.

Lady jockey Linda Meech was the leading jockey on the day, with two wins, Straand Deal and Masked Marauder. Stewards reported she was blocked for clear running in a section of the home straight, so she was probably unlucky not to finish closer than third placing in the Donald Cup.

Followers of selections in Friday’s edition had a good day. Overall, it was an excellent day’s racing. Apart from the cup winner, which is a very good horse, winners raced in the front or near the front in most races.

Results
Race one: Racing started with a 1350 metre maiden race. In what was run at a fast pace, the first three horses in the run finished in the placings. But it was the horse with the position behind the leader that was able to come around Light Filled and Grand Millesime to win narrowly. The winner was Queen Of The Surf ridden by Ryan Houston and trained by Simon Zahra.

Race two: This race was again run over the 1350 metres. As with the previous, it was a fast run race for this class. French Love with the well-supported Jotopeli sitting behind. Dean Yendall
riding Jotopeli tried for a run inside the leader at the 200 metre mark and was disappointed. He had to ease and came around the leader to win by half-a-head. In third place was I Am Titan. Jockey Harry Coffey was suspended in this race for low range interference for 8 meetings.

Race three: A race over 2200 metres for maiden horses. Disco Bay ridden by Linda Meech set a very good pace in this race with Limosa ridden by Harry Grace close in the run at the 100 metre mark. Limosa looked like winning but Makhanda ridden by Eoin Walsh, who was well back in the run, came with a very strong run to win for favourite punters.

Race four: This was a race for benchmark rated 66 class horses over 2200 metres. Another race with a good tempo with on the running rail the place to be. Autumnheat led, Ongatti behind and Straand Deal 3 back on the rail. In the home straight it was a battle to line with Straand Deal ridden by Linda Meech was able to get along the inside and win. The margins were a nose by a nose.

Race five: The benchmark 70 race over 1350 metres was also very keen. Divine Thoughts led in this race and looked to be travelling well in the home straight, but Willmott, ridden by Declan Bates, who was dropping a long way in class from his previous race, ran away for a 2 lengths win. One of the outsiders, Alternate, finished third. After this race the track was upgraded to a good 3.

Race six: Donald Cup.

Race seven: The benchmark 66 over the 1620 metre distance was run under different weather conditions from those early in the day. And as usual, there is a blow out on most race days. This time Ahab ridden by Sarah Field starting at the big odds of $31.00, was able able to lead all the way and won by a nose margin, defeating Male Model and Chairman who was only a head away. This horse, previously trained by Ciaron Maher, joined the Ann-Jeanette Tindale stable in Ballarat in late September. Stewards suspended jockey Jack Hill for 9 meetings for exceeding the use of the whip in the last 100 metres.

Race eight: Linda Meech completed her double when Masked Marauder, trained by Tom Dabernig, was able to lead all the way. Linda has a great record in leading and controlling race speeds. Jammil Jimmy and Turn Up The Night filled the placings. The time for this race was only just over one second outside the track record. This track record was set on October 27, 2000.