The New South Wales town of Corowa, on the banks of the Murray River, lies close to the state border with Victoria and 38 miles west of Albury. The area was originally inhabited by the Aboriginal Bangerang Tribe, the name of the town coming from the Aboriginal term about the ‘curra pine’ which supplied the tribe with gum for the heads of their spears. The area began to be explored in the early 1840s, with John Foord an early settler in 1843. The town has its own successful racecourse, with racing, administered by the Corowa Race Club, taking first taking place in 1876. At that inaugural meeting on Friday 11th February 1876 the Stewards were Mr H Moras, Mr H G Oading, Mr J V Neill, Mr E West, Mr H Leven and Mr Robert Brown. Prior to this date races had been held in the area, but were organised jointly by the Wahgunyah and Corowa Jockey Club, alternating annually between their respective racecourses. Pressure to sell the land came in the late 1870's although the sites future was secured by May 1887 when the course was able to be fully developed, including a grandstand.
Friday 11th February 1876
Opening Corowa Maiden Plate (20 sovereigns) over 1 ¼ miles
1. Right Bower owned by Mr J Costello and ridden by Coffey
2. Star of Peace owned by Mr H Howard
3. Chester owned by Mr A Boyle
6 ran
Corowa Handicap (30 sovereigns) over 1 ¾ miles
1. Huntsman owned by Mr H Kett
2. Revenge owned by Mr G Offord
3. Snowden owned by Mr H Kett
4. Ruby owned by Mr T Du Frocq
Publican’s Purse (15 sovereigns) over 1 ¼ miles
1. The Slave owned by Mr E Brown
2. Mountain Maid owned by Mr T Du Frocq
Farmers’ Cup (20 sovereigns) over 1 mile
1. John Sullivan
2. Barrister
In the early 20th century, as well as races organised by the Corowa Jockey Club, the Corowa Licensed Victuallers held their owned meeting on 16th May 1900 when the principal race was the Licensed Victuallers’ Handicap over 1 mile.
Wednesday 16th May 1900
Licensed Victuallers’ Handicap over 1 mile
1. Duflot (4/1) ridden by Jordan
2. The Singer (6/4 fav) ridden by A Hoysted
3. Seaspray ridden by G Sherry
In 1960 the Corowa Race Club took on the challenge of organising a ‘Melbourne Cup Races Day’, hosting their first such meeting on 1st November 1960.
Today the Race Club organises up to 8 meetings annually, with the highlight of the racing year being the Corowa Cup, normally held on the second Saturday in March over 1400 metres. A selection of previous winners of the Cup is shown below.
Recent Corowa Funny Hill Cup winners
(A full list of winners is available on request)
2011 Cooma Cup ($16,250) over 1600 metres was won by Universal Pack (6/1) beating He’s An Angel and Aussie Bomber 12 ran
2012 Cooma Cup ($16,250) over 1600 metres was won by Devised (9/2) trained by Tim Donnelly and ridden by John Kissich, beating This Cat’s Magic and Lycra Lass 13 ran
2013 Cooma Cup ($17,460) over 1600 metres was won by Leveraction (7/1) trained by D S Archard and ridden by Jye McNeil, beating Who’s Paying and Sambora 14 ran
2014 Cooma Cup ($17,460) over 1600 metres was won by Full Hand (7/1) trained by Brian Cox and ridden by Ernie Marchant, beating Via Facile and Gunner 12 ran
2015 Cooma Cup ($17,460) over 1600 metres was won by Sand Dune (15/1) trained by Kerry Weir and ridden by Simon Miller, beating He’s An Angel and Fabrino 9 ran
2016 Cooma Cup ($17,460) over 1600 metres was won by Baby Jack (9/2) trained by Brian Cox and ridden by Jake Duffy, beating Bringenbrong and Waahej 9 ran
2017 Cooma Cup ($19,750) over 1600 metres was won by Girls Own (20/1) trained by Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones and ridden by Kayla Nisbet, beating Premier’s Gift and Not Too Sure 9 ran
