Manton will become just the second person, other than Allan Hull, in the past three decades to call the Gold Cup for the MTC.

The 36-year-old Sydney-based caller has been working the majority of Wagga meetings since Hull's retirement and has been given the gig for the two big days of the Gold Cup carnival.

Manton cannot wait for the big day.

"It's obviously a race I've followed since I was a kid, because I grew up in Gundagai, so I followed the race closely," Manton said.

"I remember even wagging school because the Wagga Cup was on. I reckon I did that a couple of times.

"It will be a good thrill because I don't think anyone other than Hully's done it in probably 30 years. It's pretty crazy when you think about it like that.

"It's a good opportunity. I'm really pleased to get the job and hopefully I can get them in the right order."

Manton, who is known outside of racing for his appearance on Married At First Sight, has been calling for 15 years. He started out part-time for the first four or five years, while working for betting agencies like Centrebet and TAB.

Calling took him to Malaysia for a couple of years, before he returned home to work at TVN and now Sky.

Through the coronavirus outbreak, Sky have experimented with remote calling but Manton will be trackside at Wagga.

The Cup won't be the biggest race Manton has called but it will still hold a special place with him.

"It will be special because it's a local race where I grew up. It will be a good achievement. I've probably called bigger races but it will still be a big race to call," he said.

...

THE comeback of jockey John Kissick has again hit another hurdle.

After being reissued with his jockey's licence last week, Kissick was set to make his comeback from three and a half years on the sidelines at the Wagga Gold Cup carnival.

But that plan came unstuck on Saturday morning, when Kissick came off a horse at trackwork and injured his ankle.

"I must have hit a chinaman," Kissick said.

"The physio thinks it's a high ankle sprain. Hopefully I'll be back on the horse at trackwork next week when the swelling goes down."

...

MURRUMBIDGEE Turf Club president Geoff Harrison had pleaded with trainers not to scratch too early over the two big days of the Wagga carnival.

Last year, about 30 millimetres of rain fell on Friday morning. It prompted a lot of scratchings, only for the Cup to be run on a soft seven surface, with the track playing brilliantly.

Heavy rain is predicted for Thursday but Harrison expects the track to recover quickly.

"I hope trainers make the decision (to scratch or not) on the morning of, not the night before," Harrison said.

"We saw last year how quickly the track recovered."

Harrison said he is 'very happy' with how the fields came up for the two big days.

He himself also has a busy time, not only as president, but he has three horses racing over the carnival in Vinnie Vega, Room Number and Mookareena.

...

MITCH Beer's Albury stable continues to do plenty of miles on the highway.

Beer will have Hanger compete in the $100,000 Benchmark 88 Handicap (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Hanger has 60 kilograms and will start from barrier 10 for Tim Clark. Beer said the former Kiwi has come through his last-start sixth placing at Caulfield well.

"Group three back to an 88 is a good drop back in grade and he ran really well in an 88 two starts back," Beer said.

Hanger will then push on to the $160,000 Scone Cup (1600m) on Friday, May 15.

Beer had both Princess Cordelia and Enzed Beer race at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, where they finished seventh and eighth respectively.

...

YOUNG Turf Club will hold its Cup meeting at Wagga next month.

The meeting was scheduled for Saturday, May 16 but will be held on the Wagga Riverside track on Thursday, May 21.

The club believes the shift is a win for its sponsors and racing participants.

"Unfortunately due to COVID-19, we can't have spectators at the races and we don't have the facilities to meet the biosecurity requirements put in place by Racing NSW," a club statement read.

"Don't despair, we have been working hard on a solution and have negotiated with RNSW to have our race meeting transferred to Wagga and it's been upgraded to a TAB2 meeting, which means it will be televised on Sky Sports.

"This is great news for our sponsors, trainers and owners."

Murrumbidgee Turf Club chief executive Steve Keene said he was more than happy to accommodate the request and to help a surrounding club.

A number of alterations have been made to the programme and all races will now be worth $12,000.

...

LEETON Jockey Club have also made a slight change to its upcoming race meeting.

Originally down for Saturday, May 9, the meeting has been rescheduled for a couple of days earlier and will go ahead on Thursday, May 7.

It has now been promoted to a Sky Two meeting and will offer $12,000 a race in prizemoney. The programme remains unchanged.

Nominations for the meeting close at 11am on Friday.

...

A QUICK plea to trainers over the next two days.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Daily Advertiser does not have the same access to Murrumbidgee Turf Club as previous years, and is also working to an early interim print deadline.

If winning trainers could be mindful of answering calls, or returning them, in a timely fashion it would be much appreciated.

...

GALLOPS

Thursday: Wagga (TAB)

Friday: Wagga (TAB)

TROTS

Saturday: Wagga (TAB)

Monday: Wagga (TAB)

DOGS

Sunday: Wagga (TAB)