GOSFORD READY TO RUMBLE FOR FEATURE HOLIDAY MEETING

KONASANA 2024 BELLE OF THE TURF WINNER

THEY’RE back!

Gosford Race Club’s feature Belle of the Turf Stakes and Gosford Guineas race meeting returns to home soil at The Entertainment Grounds on Sunday for the first time in two years.

Wyong Race Club kindly hosted last year’s fixture as Gosford was out of action because of major renovation work on the track.

Sunday’s card is the first of four programs to be held over the summer holiday period, which always prove popular with so many people taking time off and relaxing on the Central Coast.

Gosford will race again on Wednesday week (New Year’s Eve), Friday, January 9 and Saturday, January 17 (which coincides with the rich Magic Millions day at the Gold Coast).

The $300,000 Group 3 Gosford RSL Belle of the Turf Stakes (1600m) and $200,000 Listed Elite Sand and Soil Gosford Guineas (1200m) highlight the opening day of the four-day summer carnival.

The Belle of the Turf is run under Quality conditions for fillies and mares, whilst the Guineas is for three-year-olds at set weights plus penalties.

Adding further substance to Sunday’s meeting is the $70,000 Malcolm Cusick Stakes (1200m) – named in honour of the club’s late long-serving chairman – for four-year-olds and upwards.

Both the Belle of the Turf and Guineas always attract strong fields, and this year’s renewals are likely to do so again, especially given the excellent prizemoney being offered.

Nominations for all seven programmed races close with Racing Australia at 11 am tomorrow (Monday) because of the public holidays (Christmas and Boxing Days) later in the week.

The list of winners of the feature races over the last five years is:

BELLE OF THE TURF STAKES

2024 – KONASANA (C. Waller/R. Bayliss)

2023 – LEKVARTE (J. Pride/T. Berry)

2022 – DENY KNOWLEDGE (M. Kent/J. Richards)

2021 – EXPAT (M. Newnham/T. Sherry)

2020 – THREEOOD (J. Pride/R. King)

GOSFORD GUINEAS

2024 – DANCE TO THE BOOM (B. Baker/R. King)

2023 – ROYAL TRIBUTE (G. Waterhouse & A. Bott/ A. Hyeronimus)

2022 – ANAVINCI (A. Archibald/C. Schofield)

2021 – BACCHANALIA (J. Cummings/C. Schofield)

2020 – FORBIDDEN LOVE (R. & W. Freedman/J. McDonald)

. Meanwhile, a large Gosford syndicate got an early Christmas present when Oryx ($8.50) won the closer at Wyong yesterday.

Ridden by Mitchell Bell, the seven-year-old defeated Formal ($6) and Can’t Touch This ($7.50) in the Conditional Benchmark 68 Handicap (1200m).

It was the gelding’s second victory from his last three starts; the other being in a Benchmark 64 Handicap (1000m) at Gosford on November 22 at his first start since late May.

Oryx, who previously raced in the Godolphin colours, is raced by a syndicate headed by Gosford Race Club vice-chairman Michael Griffiths.

Griffiths’ wife Michelle, son Jack and mother-in-law Betty Ferlazzo are part-owners along with fellow Gosford Directors Mark Holton and Peter Kernan, along with the club’s operations manager Lachie Boas-Bartlett, chef Gary Burns and plumber Gavin Singh.

Other syndicate members are Carol D’Silva (her husband Mike formerly served on the Gosford Board), Phil Bishop (boss of Equicom Syndications), Justin Sargent, Kirk Folkard, Maryanne Dwyer (wife of bookmaker David Dwyer), Natalie and Jess King.

. Kembla Grange training duo Mitch Beer and George Carpenter keep going from strength to strength.

Team Beer clinched a Moruya treble today, including the Narooma Cup (1300m) with Dumebi ($4 favorite), ridden by Pierre Boudvillain.

They had won earlier with a pair of Grant Buckley mounts, Blue Monday ($2.90 favorite) and Grey Secret ($4.20 favorite).

STORY JOHN CURTIS, DECEMBER 21, 2025 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS