The Country Championships

Big day at the races today.
The first of the Country Championships was run at Bathurst. This is a great new initiative for country racing. Heats are held in each of 7 regional centres and only horses trained in that region are eligible. First and second in each heat qualify to run in a $300,000 race in Sydney next month.

We didn't expect to even get a run in the heat but we just scraped in and Hollywood Nell ran a good third. Not enough to get her into the finals but very exciting.

Guest of honour at the meeting was racing royalty Francesca Cumani (pictured).
She is the daughter of successful Italian/English trainer, Luca Cumani. Not only is she very beautiful, she is also very knowledgeable about racing which must be why our husbands were so excited about her presence there today.
She has even worked as an amateur jockey and won four races.