GREAT Western Racing Club is once again toasting the success of its biggest day of the year.
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The Seppelt Salinger Great Western Cup has been run and won for 2016, and club secretary Michael Barry was extremely pleased with how proceedings unfolded.
“We’re very, very happy,” Mr Barry said when asked about the event.
“It was a great day. The weather was perfect, the track was perfect and although the crowd was down, it was still good.”
There were a lot of children enjoying the day, with the number of families in attendance increasing each year thanks to the addition of kids’ activities and a jumping castle.
Caravan and camping numbers for the weekend were also positive according to Mr Barry, while the number of entries for the annual Boat Regatta remained steady.
“It was good to see the Regatta was played on Racing.com (the dedicated Victorian horse racing channel). That was well-received – so might have some notoriety there!” Mr Barry said.
“It was also to good to see people getting involved in the dressing up of their boats and themselves for the race. We did miss the Smurfs from the last couple of years though.”
Fashions on the Field keeps growing in size each year, and 2016 was no exception. There were huge numbers, Mr Barry said, with club rewarding the winners with the best prizes they have ever had on offer.
“Although the overall crowd number was a bit down, the fashions had the same numbers as last year which shows the girls were on the ball,” Mr Barry said.
There was also a men’s division and a kids one, which also proved popular with the crowd.
Crowd behaviour on the day was excellent too.
“People see it as a family day to come and enjoy and not act too silly,” Mr Barry said.
The feedback for the Seppelts fine food and wine tent was good, while the food stalls were also popular among racegoers.
Last year’s band Plastered returned to entertain the Great Western crowd and a large number of people stayed back after the races to dance in front of the stage.
Great Western Racing Club is now turning its attention to the 2017 race day, and club officials are already brainstorming for activities that could feature at the event.