They’re coming back for a good time at the races and hoping to win once again … last year Brendan and Ciaron Burns and Richard Zogbee from Bankstown Sports Club won the $12,000 calcutta when Granite Bluff won the 2011 Forbes TAB Cup.
Granite Bluff, winner of the 2011 Forbes Cup, is amongst a huge nomination for the Forbes Jockey Club TAB Cup meeting on Monday.
Trainers from throughout New South Wales have made a massive 204 nominations which breaks every record in the long history of racing in Forbes.
The standard over the past decade would be around 100 nominations and some years there have been far less than that.
Trained at Braidwood by Richard Clarke and ridden by apprentice Shaun Guymer, Granite Bluff (13.00) won a sensational Cup last year from Celtic Soul (Michael Travers, 5.00) and Making Gold (Tim Phillips, (13.00).
Approaching the home turn, the 3.40 favourite Universal Pack (Simon Miller) was travelling extremely well and commencing to move through the field in what many though was going to be a winning run.
Bedlam followed when Universal Pack clipped heels and crashed to the turf and Silent War (Ken Dunbar) also fell.
In the incident Dashing Denar and Trippy lost their riders, Justin W Stanley and Lane Moloney respectively.
Sponsored this year by IGT and Forbes Services Club the $25,000 Forbes Cup (1600 metres) has attracted 23 nominations including local gallopers General Hirad trained by Frank Hayes and Beer Gut from the Dennis Bush stable.
Barry Malloy and Bill Hayes are other Forbes trainers with entries for the supporting races.
Based at Eugowra, Bill Hayes, who trains his team at Forbes racecourse, has returned from a successful raid on tracks in Queensland.
At the recent meeting at Bluff (Queensland) there were five races and Bill Hayes won the first three races with Colline Hoaks (D McWhinney, 3.75), Jet Hero (D McWhinney, 12.00) and Secret Sovereign (D McWhinney, $4.00).
During his travels Bill Hayes also won races at Charleville and Cairns.
Friday evening and Saturday morning a contingent of 120 supporters from Bankstown Sports Club will start arriving in Forbes.
This annual visit from the major sponsors is a great boost to the Forbes Jockey Club and the town in general.
A highlight of the visit includes participating in the Forbes Cup calcutta on Sunday night at the Forbes Services Club.
The calcutta at Forbes shares the top ranking with Wagga Wagga as the biggest in New South Wales.
Final acceptances will be declared this morning (Thursday) and a final preview will appear in Saturday’s Forbes Advocate.