Tumut Turf Club’s traditional Boxing Day meeting again proved a hit with racegoers with well over 1000 adults, and plenty of kids, enjoying a day under the trees at the picturesque course.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The five-race non-TAB meeting overcame an early hiccup when a power outage saw horses and jockeys return from the barriers prior to the second event.
The Sounds of the Mountains Maiden Plate (1400m) was delayed for 25 minutes but it was worth the wait for Goulburn trainer John Bateman, on his first trip to the track, and jockey Brett Fliedner who’s been coming for four decades.
The Wagga hoop hugged the rail on Bristling Ocean ($8) to win by two lengths from Tickinover ($13) and Gagarin ($3f).
“I’ve had a million rides at Tumut – stay on the fence and you get a run there all the time,” Fliedner said.
“If they handle the track, which it did, you’re halfway there. A lot of horses don’t handle it. It’s tight and it’s undulating and they either go good on it, or bad.
“I’ve been coming here since probably 1975. I’ve missed a few lately but if I get a ride, I come. The Boxing Day meeting is fabulous, just a good racing atmosphere. Even if you don’t win, it’s a great day. And it’s a bonus if you do win.”
It was exactly that for Bateman, for whom Boxing Day was not only his first trip to Tumut but his first to a non-TAB meeting as a trainer.
“It’s a nice little track,” Bateman said.
Bateman brought two horses from Goulburn and left with a first and a fourth (Leica Bita Magic in race one). He couldn’t have been happier with the journey, the jockey and the result.
“It was a very good ride, mate,” he said.
“She’s been a pretty hard mare to train – she’s a bad tie-up horse and after they went to the barriers and come back I thought, ‘Oh, this is not going to suit’ but she got home so it’s good.”
