feel it live magazine
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A horse named in memory of a little girl with big blue eyes
and pretty ringlets created tears of joy at Bendigo’s Lords
Raceway on Saturday night 25 May 2013.
Four-year-old trotting mare Sophie Gorgeous was named
after Sophie Goss who passed away in her sleep at the
age of seven on June 2, 2009. “Sophie Gorgeous” was
there in spirit as her namesake sprinted from the middle
of the field to snatch a surprise victory in race nine at
odds of $13. Sophie’s family stood at the finish line to
cheer Sophie Gorgeous home to her first win. Sophie’s
mother Rachel said she was a “special little girl from day
one’’. “We used to say she was gorgeous with her big blue
eyes and ringlets,’’ she said. “She called herself Sophie
Gorgeous.’’ And that was how she would introduce herself
to others. Bendigo horse breeders Denise and Brian Gath
heard about Sophie at the same time one of their mares
had a little filly. “I got to know Rachel when I went to the
deli at Coles,’’ Denise said. “Sophie would come up and
say: ‘Hello, I’m Sophie Gorgeous’. She was the cutest little
thing.’’ “When Sophie passed away in her sleep, I told Ra-
chel I was going to name the filly Sophie. “She asked me if
we could call it Sophie Gorgeous.’’ Harness Racing Victo-
ria granted the Gath family special permission to submit
one name instead of the traditional six.
Sophie Gorgeous has started eight times for Ballarat trainer
Brian Kiesey but Saturday night’s win was her first. “It was an
overwhelming sense of emotion – everyone was in tears,’’
Rachel said. “You could hear the crowd screaming, and that
was us. “We didn’t think she would go close to winning, then
Brian (who was driving) came home for us. “She just came
from the middle and took off.’’ Bendigo Harness Racing Club
general manager David Aldred said Sophie’s friends and fam-
ily were excited by the win. “They let out a big cheer, her mum
was extremely happy,’’ he said. “It’s the type of win you like to
see in racing. There wasn’t a lot of money in it but it meant
everything to a lot of people there. “It was very emotional – to
those people it meant the world.’’ Rachel said Sophie Gor-
geous the horse was beautiful and calm, just as her daughter
was. “It’s nice to say the horse’s name has meaning behind it
and somebody thought of us when thinking of that,’’ she said.
“We’ve never been a family that had anything to do with
horses – it’s a really warm and fuzzy feeling to know a family
we didn’t know that well would do something like that for us.’’
LEFT: Brian Gath drives Sophie Gorgeous to her maiden win at
Bendigo’s Lord’s Raceway. ABOVE: Sophie Goss who died age 7.
STORY by Nicole Ferrie—Bendigo Advertiser.
WINTER 2013 FEEL IT LIVE - Bendigo Harness Racing Magazine
Next time you visit Lord’s Raceway
don’t forget to visit the Library and
Memorabilia Room at the track.
Located under the main grand-
stand next to Garrard’s Horse &
Hound, the Library is building a big
collection of books, photos, racing
silks, vintage race records, trophies
and much more.
The BHRC’s Historian, committee-
man Noel Ridge has taken charge
of the collection and is enthusiasti-
cally managing the project. Each
week something new is donated.
Just recently Mary Sweeney
donated a collection of photos and
trophies won by the great Bendigo
mare Mother Courage.
Anyone is welcome to donate to the
library and historical room.
Noel and BHRC General Manager
David Aldred are also adding new
features to the Bendigo Harness
Racing Club Historical page on the
club’s website.
To view the page simply log onto:
www.bhrc.com.au and follow the
prompts.
Did you know ?
The first official Australian trotting
mile record was achieved at
Epsom near Bendigo on 17-09-
1858
Trotting Match.—A match came off
yesterday afternoon on the Race
Course at Epsom, by Mr.Rankin's
horse Spider.
The match was made in order to
test the speed of the horse, who
accomplished the first mile in four
minutes, and the second in three
minutes and twenty-four sec-
onds—a speed which has not ever
been equalled on Bendigo. The
horse was ridden by Mr. Kettle,
the rider of Rambler.
From John Peck - Editor, Harness
Racing International Magazine,
April 2013
Page 3 WINTER 2013
The Bendigo Harness Racing Committee is embarking on a drive for new Club members
and the Club has a great offer for existing and new members for 2013/14.
Membership fees for the year have been discounted substantially to just $50 and as a
bonus this year the Club will also provide each member with a TROTS CARD. The Trots
Card entitles the Member to complimentary entry to 456 harness race meeting during
2013/14. Do the sums ! That means if you attend each race meeting on the calendar
you will pay just 11 cents per race meeting. On top of the great gate entry offer the BHRC
also provides members with exclusive competition draws, newsletters, invitations to
members only events and priority bookings on feature race nights. Each BHRC member
is also entitled to voting rights at the AGM and General Meetings.
Any small business or
person wishing to become
corporate or private
Sponsorship partner at the
entry level should consider
the Bendigo Harness Rac-
ing Club’s Hot to Trot Of-
fer.
Guaranteed that you won’t
get a better deal than this
anywhere.
For just $200 you get:
A RACE NAME
Your business or personal
name of your choice will
be allocated to an avail-
able TAB race at Lords
Raceway. Race names are
published in the fields in
newspapers and on TAB
charts and on formguides
nationally as well as on
line websites, racing radio
RSN and televised nation-
ally on Sky Racing.
TICKETS
You will receive 6 x compli-
mentary tickets to Lord’s
Raceway so you can bring
your staff, clients, friemds
or family to a night at the
races.
10% DISCOUNT
You will get a 10% dis-
count on our premium
race night dining package.
The dining packages are
just $5 pp and include
track entry, 3 course meal,
a racebook and table ser-
vice to your premium seat-
ing.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Your company or personal
advert will be published in
the racebook on the night
of your race and you will
also have your advert pub-
lished on our website.
WINTER 2013 Page 4
Produced and Edited by DAVID ALDRED - General Manager Bendigo Harness Racing Club Inc.