CAMERONWESTON
THE WILLIAMSTOWN Cup was run and won at Werribee last weekend, three years after being revived by a group of passionate locals, determined not to see the grand old race fade into history.
Williamstown owner and racing enthusiast Peter Whittaker, who led the charge to see the race restored to its former glory, said the day had been widely embraced by locals, keen to preserve the connection to the past.
Mr Whittaker said his interest in the cup was piqued after a relation, former mayor of Williamstown Howard Whittaker, told him about the track and the history of the cup.
He started digging up information about the old track and, with a group of like-minded locals, took the initial steps to have the race reinstated and run at nearby Werribee.
The old wooden grandstand off Kororoit Creek Road is now little more than a mound of rubble after it was destroyed by a fire in 1946, a palm tree the only reminder of the past.
It is emblematic of the club itself, which once vied with Flemington and Caulfield for premier status in Melbourne, but was lost to time.
But Mr Whittaker is determined to see the cup continue to grow at Werribee.
“We want the Williamstown Cup to be a prestigious race on the Victorian racing calendar again.”
“It has lost its identity, so we went to the Victorian Racing Club and said we would like to re-establish the race, to give it ‘listed’ status.”
Mr Whittaker said that if the cup were listed and was run as part of a dedicated Williamstown Cup Day, it would attract bigger purses and stronger fields ensuring it again became an important part of the Melbourne racing calendar.
“I was shocked to learn that the who’s who of Victorian racing had been involved in the club,” Mr Whittaker said.
A glance along the members’ roll at the Williamstown Racing Club would have revealed some of the great names of Victorian racing – W.S.Cox, L.J McKinnon and J.J. Liston.
The Williamstown Cup was last run under that name at Caulfield in 1961.
It became known as the Sandown Cup the following year and was moved to the new track of the same name, and so was disconnected from its glory days in Williamstown.
The new incarnation of the cup also coincides with Anzac Day, a link Mr Whittaker said local RSL groups had been keen to establish, and the Last Post has already become a key part of the race day.
The proceeds from race day also go to the children’s cancer charity My Room, which decorates children’s hospital rooms.
