Waterloo Cup celebrates 150 years of coursing in Victoria with Funny Old Fellow win
The 150th anniversary of coursing, in Victoria was celebrated this season, with the highlight being the Waterloo Cup held at Lang Lang.
The Waterloo Cup is Australia's premier coursing event and holds the distinction of being the oldest.
Since its inception in 1873, it has been a tradition interrupted during World War II.
Taking place on August 20 and 27, this year's Waterloo Cup drew a field of 32 greyhounds.
Funny Old Fellow, owned by Peter Craig, Nathan Tracy, and Leigh Jennings, emerged as the victor.
The win gives loyal coursing stalwart Craig back-to-back wins in the prestigious cup, and his third win in the event in the past nine years.
Craig won the 2023 Waterloo Cup with He's No Slouch, who shares the same ownership interests as Funny Old Fellow.
In the final course against the Dallas Massine-trained Swinton, Funny Old Fellow was able to prevail to claim the greyhound's first Waterloo Cup victory.
Up until the mid-1950's, the only greyhound racing at all in Victoria was coursing, where greyhounds competed one-on-one in match races up a straight behind a drag lure.
Until recently, greyhounds would race three times in a day, and only the strongest could win the Waterloo Cup, which required a greyhound to win six courses in two consecutive days.
In recent times, the Waterloo Cup contest has been watered down so that it is now conducted across two weekends instead of consecutive days.
Greyhounds raced up to three times in a day—and in some cases, six times across a weekend—in a knockout competition that was a true test of speed and endurance.
The first coursing meeting in Victoria was conducted at Sunbury on May 28, 1873, which made the 2023 running of the Waterloo Cup a special event as it was the 150th running of the time-honoured event.
The importance of the occasion was not lost on long-time coursing supporter Craig, who said, “It's truly a dream come true.
We've been striving to win this race for years.”
Now it has become a reality.”