Inaugural Halls Gap Cup puts town on the map

PREPARATIONS are well underway for the inaugural Halls Gap Cup.

The meeting is a joint initiative of Halls Gap Tourism and Stawell Racing Club and will be at Stawell Racecourse on Friday next week.

Halls Gap Tourism chairman Geoff Watts said the meeting was a way to put Halls Gap on the map.

"We've been looking at different ways we can do it and when this came up we thought it was a great idea," he said.

"We've put in some calls to Roy Higgins and Peter Moody to try to attract some quality horses, but the time factor has been a bit of an issue. We won't know how we've gone until the acceptances are out next week."

Mr Watts said the winning owner would receive a $1500 Halls Gap Cup.

"It's a gold cup and we're planning on having it on display,"he said.

We're going to get the white gloves out and show it off a bit we want it to be like the Melbourne Cup of the Wimmera."

Mr Watts said the race meeting coincided with ladies day.

"It's a special day to get women involved in country racing," he said.

"There will be a free drink and gift for ladies upon arrival."

Mr Watts encouraged people from the Wimmera to get behind the event.

"It's going to be a fantastic day," he said.

"There will be plenty of tables and chairs and we'll also have an area reserved for people from Halls Gap, Lake Fyans and Pomonal.

"We're running a bus from Halls Gap via Pomonal and Lake Fyans so visitors can experience the best of both worlds time relaxing in the beautiful Grampians and then a big day out at the races in Stawell. We hope that people will come to Halls Gap for a couple of nights and make a real trip of it."

Mr Watts said bus tickets cost $10 return, which included entry into Stawell Racecourse.

He said people could call 5356 4866 for more information or ticekts.

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