Jockey Wendy Peel has won the last two Louth Cups on Austin and Valadyium however those wins have been four years apart.
No, the Louth Cup is not an Olympic Games event, the reason for the four year gap being the planned annual Louth meetings were abandoned in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to either the COVID pandemic or wet weather.
Rodney Robb from Nyngan was the trainer of the 2019 winner Austin while Valadyium won the 2023 Cup for Dubbo trainer Connie Greig.
The much anticipated return to racing at the iconic outback meeting attracted a probable record crowd of around 5,000 on Saturday and it was a thrilling finish to the 2,000 metres Nutrien Walsh Hughes-Don Le Lievre Memorial Louth Cup.
Beg Me led around the home-turn from Costas and Valadyium and it then became a great battle down the straight between those three gallopers.
Finishing slightly the better, Valadyium (Peel, $3.60 favourite) won by 3/4 length from Beg Me (Ken Dunbar, $4.40) with a short half head to Costas (Jake Barrett, $4.40)…Full report in this week’s edition out now!
