The Valley - Friday 31st October 2020

1 CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME What a week it was – with the 2020 Ladbrokes Cox Plate Carnival behind us it gives us the opportunity to reflect on our Clubs big 24 hours. While it looked very different this year, some things remained the same including the quality of racing, fair racing surface and the countries excitement towards our LEGENDARY race. The 100th running of the W.S. Cox Plate was always going to be a celebration and what better ambassador than Glen Boss who stood high in the irons as he won his fourth Weight-for-Age Championship, equal with Hugh Bowman and just one behind the great Darby Munro. I send my sincere congratulations to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace and the connections who had the foresight to purchase the son of Camelot from Europe for this race and I wish them well in the Melbourne Cup. The other star of Cox Plate Day was Jamie Kah who was crowned with back-to-back Brent Thomson Jockey Challenge awards. In a remarkable performance and for just the fourth time in our Club’s history has a jockey ridden four winners on Cox Plate Day. Rewind back to Friday night and wasn’t it great to see the Tony and Calvin McEvoy trained Hey Doc claim his second Manikato Stakes and become the sixth dual winner of the race. From a commercial front in a year with no crowds, it was pleasing to see strong wagering growth year on year and most importantly television viewing via Channel 7 on a strong upward spiral. We hope you enjoyed the day at home and we brought the race into your loungerooms to enjoy in these times. With the Government announcements this week, we have reason to remain optimistic of having patrons back to The Valley soon. I would also like to wish our friends at the Victoria Racing Club the best of luck for the Melbourne Cup Carnival this week. Don Casboult Chairman