56 Wangoom Handicap First run 1880 100 years ago William Thomson’s Battleplane won the Wangoom Handicap in 1919 (aged three), 1920 and 1922 - carrying 11.1 (70.3 kg) in his third win. Apart from several wins at Flemington, his best performances in Melbourne included third placings in the 1921 Toorak Handicap and the 1922 Futurity Stakes, and fourth place in the 1922 Newmarket Handicap. Battleplane was trained by Caulfield mentor Fred Doran, a very prolific winner of races here in the inter-war years. 60 YEARS AGO There were no race meetings here from the 1941 May Carnival until December 1943. However, on Saturday 22 May 1943 the Warrnambool Old Diggers’ Social Club conducted a patriotic gymkhana and unregistered race meeting in aid of its Prisoners of War appeal. There were four races and various gymkhana events. The mare Evenfall garnered the grand sum of £19 for her ownertrainers, the brothers Denis and Martin Heffernan of Noorat, in edged out the Darren Weir trained Wealth Princess by half a head. Second Effort won the race again the following year carrying 58.5 kilograms and ridden by Brad Rawiller. Once again Glen Boss was thwarted, finishing second on the Colin and Cindy Alderson trained That’s The One. LAST YEAR Symon Wilde’s training skills were on full display last year – winning our feature sprint with Inn Keeper, ridden by Dean Holland, and the Grand Annual with Gold Medals. Wilde had Inn Keeper ($13) cherry ripe for the Wangoom as at his previous start he won at Terang – his first victory since Swan Hill’s Golden Topaz Stakes in June 2018. Mark McNamara, April 2022 Inn Keeper ridden by Dean Holland returns to scale after winning the Midfield Group Wangoom Handicap winning three races; the Tobruk Handicap Open Hack Race over five furlongs, the Prisoners of War Cup over six furlongs and the Diggers’ Welter Handicap over five furlongs. Evenfall later produced Bellinzona, whose 25 wins included the 1962 Wangoom Handicap. 10 YEARS AGO Second Effort liked soft tracks, and Warrnambool in May. He was victorious at four consecutive May Carnivals. In 2010 he won a 1200 metre Maiden, and the following year a 0-72 Handicap. Leading up to the 2012 Wangoom Handicap, Caulfield trainer Clinton McDonald flipped a coin to decide whether Glen Boss or Danny Nikolic would ride the gelding. The coin landed on tails, so Nikolic took the mount and
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