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www.racingnsw.com.au MAJOR SPONSORS AREN’T EASY TO COME BY AT ANY TIME, AND EVEN MORE SO IN THIS CURRENT CLIMATE – ALL OF WHICH MAKES HRC GREATLY APPRECIATE LANDER TOYOTA WORDS: JOHN CURTIS PICTURE: BRADLEY PHOTOGRAPHERS 30 B lacktown-based car dealer Lander Toyota will continue its magnificent support of one of the Hawkesbury Race Club’s feature races, the $150,000 Ladies Day Cup, on Thursday November 4. Since the Listed race became the highlight of the annual Ladies Day meeting (which coincides with Oaks Day at Flemington) in 2013, Lander Toyota has been the driving force behind it. “Lander Toyota is a very valued supporter of our club,” Hawkesbury chief executive Ken Rutherford said. “They have sponsored at this meeting for many years, even before becoming involved with the main race, and we are extremely grateful for their ongoing sponsorship. “Lander Toyota boss, Ross Cullen loves his racing and has shares in a number of horses.” The Ladies Day Cup, now run over 1600m, took over as the highlight race eight years ago when the Group 3 Hawkesbury Gold Cup became a major feature at the Saturday stand-alone meeting in autumn. Earlier run at 1300m, the Lander Toyota Ladies Day Cup was increased to 1400m in 2013 and then slightly again to 1600m in 2019. It should be no surprise either that Sydney’s champion trainer Chris Waller has won four of the last seven runnings. He won with Tromso and Strawberry Boy (both ridden by Josh Parr) in 2013 and 2014 respectively, and then with Cellarman (Mitchell Bell) and Black on Gold (Brenton Avdulla) in 2019 and 2020. Tromso ($5) and Strawberry Boy ($6) were in the market, but not so with Cellarman ($31, although longer odds were bet) and Black on Gold ($19). Interesting to note that last year’s Ladies Day Cup runner-up Archedemus won this year’s Gr 3 Evergreen Turf Hawkesbury Gold Cup at the same 1600m distance. The 2015 meeting was washed out and last year’s fixture, initially to have been run on the Thursday, was moved to the following Wednesday because of more wet weather. As well as Josh Parr, last season’s premier Hawkesbury jockey Jason Collett also has won the Ladies Day Cup twice under the Lander Toyota banner. He scored on Duca Valentinois for James Cummings in 2017 and again the following year on Pecans for Joe Pride. Prior to the Lander Toyota sponsorship, Peter Snowden won the Cup three years in succession (Beaded in 2009, Kanzan in 2010 and Shannara in 2011) when it was run at 1300m, and the legendary Cups King Bart Cummings also was successful, with Blessus (Jeff Lloyd) in 2008. While Brenton Avdulla won last year’s Ladies Cup for Chris Waller, he was in an opposite corner to beat him in the recent Pioneer Services Rowley Mile. Avdulla and Randwick trainer John O’Shea each clinched their first Rowley Mile when the jockey delivered a brilliant ride on Berdibek ($4.60) to beat Waller’s Queensland Derby winner Kukeracha ($3.40 favourite) in the Listed event. Berdibek was having his first start since finishing a close fourth (beaten less than a length) in the Listed Grafton Cup (2350m), and O’Shea produced the eight- year-old grey in tip-top order. Waller was chasing his fifth Rowley Mile success, and Kukeracha, racing for the first time since the Gr 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm on May 29, was the training supremo’s ninth minor placing in the Hawkesbury feature. He supplied the first three placegetter in the 2016 edition when McCreery (Tommy Berry) defeated Marenostro and Junoob. Hawkesbury moved swiftly to avoid any chance of a repetition of the Nash Rawiller incident at the club’s August 19 meeting. Rawiller sustained an undisplaced fracture to his right foot with an open wound over the fracture when he made heavy contact with the enclosure fence as he was going out on to the track for the opening race on Fine Ruby, accompanied by the clerk of the course and his pony. He was sidelined for a fortnight and returned at the Chelmsford Stakes meeting at Royal Randwick on September 4. “It was one of those one in a million mishaps that you never want to see happen,” Ken Rutherford said. “But to be sure it doesn’t occur again, we took an extra fence panel out to widen the exit area on to the track.” HAWKESBURY RACE CLUB Lander Toyota shows its support for Hawkesbury