The New South Wales village of Louth lies on the eastern side of the Darling River in the Bourke Shire region of the state. It is located almost 100 kilometres south-west of Bourke and about 130 kilometres north-west of Cobar. The village only came into being in the mid-19th century when an Irishman, Thomas Andrew Mathews, spotted an opportunity to serve alcohol to the thirsty travellers along the Darling River and opened his own pub. Even today the village barely numbers 50 inhabitants, yet despite that the village has its own highly successful racecourse which attracts upwards of 5000 spectators to its annual race meeting, normally on the second Saturday in August. A committee meeting was held on Saturday 20th June 1959 to discuss the formation of the Louth Turf Club and within 2 months the inaugural meeting had been planned and executed. That first meeting, on Saturday 29th August, was overseen by the President of the Turf Club, Mr R Horton, along with Vice-Presidents Mr W G Mitchell and Mr A H Duncan, all kept in order by the Honorary Secretary Mr L B Norris. |
The next year the Turf Club built on its first year success by receiving over 75 nominations for the 6 races on the card on Saturday 20th August 1960. The feature race, fully cemented into the card as its highlight, was the Percy Cresswell Memorial Handicap.
Saturday 20th August 1960
Percy Cresswell Memorial Handicap over 7 furlongs
1. Sunya (7/1) owned by Mr C Freeman and ridden by R Roberts
2. Venberg (8/1) owned by Mrs R G Horton and ridden by J Dougherty
3. Tres Chaud (5/2 fav) owned by Mr H E & W B Davis and ridden by J Waterhouse |
Today the racecourse is as popular as ever, with the highlight of the racing year being the Louth Cup over 2000 metres.
Recent winners of the Louth Cup
(A full list of winners is available on request)
2009 Louth Cup ($5,600) over 2000 metres was won by Haikala (10/1) trained by Mr G A Day and ridden by J Galea, beating Rocking On and Desert Romance 5 ran
2010 Louth Cup meeting was abandoned
2011 Louth Cup ($6,300) over 2000 metres was won by Husisname (7/2) trained by Noel Boland and ridden by Michael Hackett, beating First Draw and Team Thunderstone
2012 Louth Cup ($7,420) over 2000 metres was won by Husisname (5/4 fav) trained by Noel Boland and ridden by Greg Ryan, beating Let’s Bat and Ziazan 6 ran
2013 Louth Cup ($5,180) over 2000 metres was won by Husisname (5/2) trained by Noel Boland and ridden by James Geppert, beating Park Heir and Teraset 8 ran
2014 Louth Cup ($4,540) over 2000 metres was won by Win For Wilson (3/1) trained by Rodney Robb and ridden by Mathew Cahill, beating Teraset and Husisname 6 ran
2015 Louth Cup ($7,100) over 2000 metres was won by Dark Mojo (5/2) trained by Brett Thompson and ridden by Anthony Cavallo, beating Right of Reply and Destiny’s Future 6 ran
2016 Louth Cup ($7,100) over 2000 metres was won by Rusty Motorbike (5/1) trained by Rodney Robb and ridden by Clayton Gallagher, beating Dark Mojo and Corporate Takeover 9 ran
2017 Louth Cup ($7,180) over 2000 metres was won by Streak On (11/8 fav) trained by Sue Grills and ridden by Jake Pracey-Holmes, beating Sword Fighter and Strike Zone 8 ran |
