Tye Angland calls for stand-alone Saturday status for Wagga Gold Cup carnival

Angland enjoyed a successful homecoming to the Wagga carnival last week, riding five winners over the two big days.

The Wantabadgery wonder has since joined calls for the Wagga meeting to be given the same prominence as Cup meetings at Scone and Hawkesbury, which boast stand-alone Saturday metropolitan status in NSW.

Liam Prior, Chris Waller’s racing manager, visited the Wagga carnival for the first time this year and also spoke in favour of the concept.

There are several major hurdles standing in the way of such a move, but Murrumbidgee Turf Club (MTC) chief executive Scott Sanbrook believes there is some merit in the debate.

“It’s a very interesting point that has been raised but it wouldn’t be easy to make it a reality,” Sanbrook said.

“However it could be something that the (MTC) board would look at pursuing.”

Under the proposal, the first of the two major days at Wagga would move to Friday, with Cup day to be held on Saturday.

The major stumbling block is the prizemoney on offer at Wagga. Only two of the races, the Gold Cup and Town Plate, meet the minimum Saturday metropolitan prizemoney levels of $100,000.

MTC would need to find about $400,000 in additional prizemoney.

It is also likely to draw opposition from Sydney racegoers given the timing in between Hawkesbury and Scone.

If Wagga gained stand-alone status there would be a month without a single Saturday metropolitan meeting in Sydney.

Many Wagga racegoers and MTC members would also need convincing that the current structure needs changing, given the ongoing success of the carnival.

Last week’s Carnival again proved a resounding success, despite crowd numbers being down on Cup day.

Town Plate day saw 2750 people turn out, before another 7250 racegoers attended on Friday.

Betting turnover was up considerably on last year and almost hit record heights.

Total turnover for the two days was $4,420,841, just short of 2015 when an additional race saw it hit $4,495,415.

“The wash up from the carnival was very positive,” Sanbrook said.