Velocette Continues His Group Racing Dominance In Horsham Cup

Lara owner-breeder Ron McCullagh restores old motorcycles as a hobby. He has recently been applying the finishing touches to eight Triumphs and an Ariel in his garage.

But it's his that has revved into vintage form, giving McCullagh an exhilarating ride! Velocette – named after an iconic English motorcycle marque – is fine tuned by Lara training doyen Graeme Bate.

And on Sunday, Velocette and Bate were once again firing on all cylinders!

Velocette was at full throttle, taking out a $28,000 first prize in the Group 2 Westside Tabaret (480m). It was Bate's eighth win in the Wimmera-based club's signature sprint.

Accelerating past $250,000 in stakes, Velocette ($2.60F) defeated the Jason Thompson-trained Hanify's Impact ($3.10) by one length, with Cyclone Ned ($10.10) one length away third in 26.78sec – less than two lengths off the 26.68sec held by Crash, ironically prepared by Thompson.

Thompson had to play ‘pillion passenger' to Bate for the second time in a week, as Velocette had defeated his champion speedster in the Australian Cup on February 28.

Bate also had (5th) and (7th) in the Horsham Cup final.

McCullagh, who has been a mate of Bate for 25 years, prepared Velocette for his first eight starts but transferred him as “things got busy at work”.

“There were some good races coming up, and I didn't have time to cart him around,” McCullagh said. “I couldn't have given him to a better trainer… Graeme gets the best out of them.”

Cyclone Ned was an enormous run in the race after giving away more than 5 lengths on the corner and running both Hanify's Impact and Velocette to just two lengths on the line, this greyhound is clearly very under-rated and measured up well to both Velocette and Hanify's Impact.

Behind the placegetters, finished Barney ($40.00), Taipan Bale ($5.20), ($22.70), Jarvis Bale ($16.90) and Cracked Ice ($18.00) finshed last.

Velocette is a Black Dog by Bombastic Shiraz out of (Fortress ~ Midnight Flirt) and was whelped in August 2006.

Owned by Ron McCullagh and trained by Garaeme Bate, Velocette has had 42 starts for 18 wins and 10 placings and the Horsham Cup prizemoney of $28,000 takes his career prizemoney to $250,450.

Sunday's Horsham Cup win was Velocetee's second Group Race win in a row after brilliantly winning the Group 1 Australian Cup win at his last group racing attempt.

Prior to the last two triumphs, Velocette had previously made 6 group race finals without success. Amongst the unplaced efforts were the Group 1 2008 Melbourne Cup, with his previous best group finish being a 6.75 length second to Keeko Bale in the 2008 Group 2 Traralgon Cup.

below are the previous winners of the Horsham Cup, famous for many years when run as an Easter carnival. The race has been won by some of the best sprinters to ever grace Victorian race tracks.

    Horsham Cup Honour Roll
  • 1978 Temsonny
  • 1979 Chukka Khan
  • 1980 Tempix
  • 1981 Time Bonus
  • 1982 Satan's Shroud
  • 1983 Virgo Rose
  • 1984 Propellant
  • 1985 Savage Touch
  • 1986 Aidan
  • 1987 Buka Sunset
  • 1988 Hay Dinney
  • 1989 Daisy Clover
  • 1990 Go Georgie
  • 1991 Rare Drop
  • 1992 Noble Stranger
  • 1993 Casino Tom
  • 1994 No Object
  • 1995 Midnight Flirt
  • 1996 True Type
  • 1997 Another Express
  • 1998 Lansley Bale
  • 1999 Legs Ahoy
  • 2000 Kantarn Bale
  • 2001 Classic Capri
  • 2002 Timjim Bale
  • 2003 Monsters Inc
  • 2004 Brumby Lad
  • 2005 Foreign Legion
  • 2006 Marungi Blaze
  • 2007 Winsome History
  • 2008 Kendale Bale
  • 2009 Velocette
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Sporty
Sporty
15 years ago

Wonder if Graeme & Bev and Ron & Judy will get any Xmas cards this year from Jason & Seona, twice in 8 days!

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[…] the fact Velocette knocked off the 2009 Group 2 Horsham Cup and the Group 3 Perth Cup Consolation during March, and improved his point score from just 70 AGRA […]