{"id":117197,"date":"2025-11-08T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=117197"},"modified":"2025-11-07T14:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T03:52:16","slug":"btc-ready-to-ride-momentum-into-cup-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/btc-ready-to-ride-momentum-into-cup-day\/","title":{"rendered":"BTC ready to ride momentum into Cup day"},"content":{"rendered":"

BALLARAT Turf Club (BTC) is looking to ride a wave of momentum into its flagship event next month.<\/p>\n

A month out from the 2025 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup, the club and the wider racing fraternity are buzzing with anticipation off the back of a massive ladies’ race meeting and a successful Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour stop in the city on 16 October.<\/p>\n

And it’s been a big couple of months on the track for Ballarat trainers, highlighted by the father and son team of Tony and Calvin McEvoy claiming the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double with Half Yours and the Henry Dwyer-trained Asfoora claiming her third international Group 1 victory in the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp in France.<\/p>\n

A thrill for his owners and trainer Mitch Freedman, Attrition ensured the spotlight remained on Ballarat by finishing fourth in the Group 1 W.S. Cox Plate behind Via Sistina at odds of 40-1.<\/p>\n

Archie Alexander kept the Ballarat flag flying, saddling up third placegetter Deal Done fast in the Group 1 Victoria Derby.<\/p>\n

The BTC is hoping to carry the current momentum into cup day on Saturday 6 December.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ballarat Turf Club hosted an ultra-successful Ladies Day meeting last month. Photo: BALLARAT TURF CLUB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chief executive officer Peter Downs said preparations for cup day were tracking nicely.<\/p>\n

“Package sales have been good, but there is still plenty of opportunity for people to get involved,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We had a really good year last year and we are hoping to improve on it this year.<\/p>\n

“Things are shaping up well. The race program looks like it will be really strong again \u2013 a similar race program to last year.<\/p>\n

“Last year’s cup race had a capacity field and was won locally by Dan O’Sullivan, so we’re hoping to see something as good, if not better again this year.”<\/p>\n

Berkeley Square, who will likely run in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington this Saturday, looms as a potential contender again this year.<\/p>\n

The six-year-old gelding enhanced his strong record in major country cup races when third in last month’s Group 3 Geelong Cup won by Torranzino.<\/p>\n

He finished second in last year’s Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) in the lead-up to his Ballarat Cup triumph. His path to the Ballarat Cup also included placings in the Coongy Cup, Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Zipping Classic, all at Stakes level.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jaylah Kennedy pilots Berkeley Square to victory in the 2024 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup. Photo: BRETT HOLBURT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In what the BTC hopes is a sign of things to come, its Ladies Day meeting attracted a sell-out crowd of 300 upstairs in the Terrace Dining Room.<\/p>\n

Guests enjoyed a delicious two-course meal, accompanied by some formalities about the club’s charity for the day Hand in Hand Ballarat, and entertainment performances from Laura Fitzgibbon and Frankie Says Sax.<\/p>\n

“We had double our best attendance to the day this year, which was really pleasing,” Downs said.<\/p>\n

“We’re hoping the cup pushes off that and becomes bigger too.”<\/p>\n

The club raised $2809 for Hand in Hand Ballarat.<\/p>\n

Downs said racegoers could look forward to a few slight tweaks to this year’s Cup entertainment.<\/p>\n

“We are doing a few things differently this year,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We had a really good Kids Zone and family area last year, but we’ve moved that to be a bit more central so people can be closer to the action, while having just as much fun.<\/p>\n

“But mainly we are building on what was a very good year last year.<\/p>\n

“And of course we’d love another local winner.<\/p>\n

“Last year, Berkeley Square was one of only a few locals, but hopefully we see a few more contenders this year.”<\/p>\n

For Ballarat Cup day packages and information, visit country.racing.com\/ballarat\/calendar\/ballarat-cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BALLARAT Turf Club (BTC) is looking to ride a wave of momentum into its flagship event next month. A month out from the 2025 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup, the club and the wider racing fraternity are buzzing with anticipation off the back of a massive ladies’ race meeting and a successful Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour stop […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":117202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-117197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBTC ready to ride momentum into Cup day - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ballarat Cup 2025 builds on strong momentum with BTC's Ladies Day success and top local trainers ready for December's big race.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/btc-ready-to-ride-momentum-into-cup-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BTC ready to ride momentum into Cup day - 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