Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

On Friday perfect weather and a strong field added up to a record crowd for the Wodonga Gold Cup. About 7,000 people turned up for the cup, the third cup staged by the Wodonga and District Turf Club since the public holiday was moved to accommodate Wodonga's premier race. Congratulations to Racing Wodonga's general manager, Tom O'Connor, and his committee Kevin Richardson, Terry Doolan, Colin Hayes, Paul Curtis, Trevor Cutler, Brian Flanagan, Terry Maher, Reg Ryan and Mark Bowen on a day that was a huge success. Congratulations also to Racing Wodonga's staff, stewards and race day officials, as well as all the sponsors who made it such a wonderful day. There was a huge crowd. They were beautifully dressed and well behaved. It was a credit to everybody involved.

I would also like to congratulate the connections of Michael Maroney for training the gelding Loyalty Man, who was first past the post, and Ben Hollands and Dutch media, from Wodonga, for their excellent promotion of the cup. Country racing continues to be important in the north-east, where it is worth over $40 million to the economy and creates more than 350 jobs.

Racing Wodonga has developed its business plan for the precinct, the master plan, and I am really looking forward to working with the turf club to get the funds that they need to make Wodonga an absolute centre of excellence and functions for all around north-eastern Victoria. Congratulations to everybody for a great job and a terrific day.

See this speech in context