feel it live magazine

4
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 FerrieBendigo Advertiser.

Upload: david-aldred

Post on 16-Mar-2016

221 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

 

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Feel it live magazine

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.

Page 2: Feel it live magazine

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: Feel it live magazine

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.

Page 4: Feel it live magazine

WINTER 2013 Page 4

Produced and Edited by DAVID ALDRED - General Manager Bendigo Harness Racing Club Inc.