It’s been a huge week on the Victorian picnic circuit with both the Drouin and Merton Cups run and won over the festive period.
Boxing Day might mean Christmas ham hangovers, the beginning of the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race or the MCG Test for most, but it’s also the time for the Drouin & District Racing Club to shine with their traditional one-off Cup-day program.
Honours were shared across the program with six different jockeys and trainers enjoying the spoils.
The Cup itself was somewhat of an upset as Cranbourne trainer Martin Gray combined with in-form rider Mel McDonald to land the cash with six-year-old mare Chaichna ($6).
A daughter of Reward for Effort out of the High Chaparral mare Rose of Chaparral, Chaichna is related to multiple Group 1 winner on both sides of the Tasman, Miss Potential.
Chaichna dead-heated when breaking her maiden status at Mornington back in March 2023 and had managed just two placings in 16 starts before she ran out the 1775m too strongly at Drouin, defeating the odds-on favourite of Gemma Rielly’s, Consensio, by two lengths.
Shaun shines at Merton
Defending champion Shaun Cooper made an early statement in 2025 when he kicked off the new year with a treble at Merton, including winning the Cup for his mate Don Dwyer.
The pair combined with hardy seven-year-old All Too Creedy ($4.60) to win the 1900-metre feature, the son of Jimmy Creed adding to his haul from last season which included the Sister Olive/St Pats Cup double at Yea.
Earlier, Cooper rode a double for Benalla trainer Geoff Brunsdon, winning the maiden races on  Persuasive Star ($4.60) at start 45, and Enough War ($4) at only start six.
Hard work pays
It was a busy couple of days for Sale trainer Troy Kilgower who saddled up 16 runners across the Drouin and Woolamai meetings on Boxing Day and last Saturday.
Several of those 16 went around twice including one of the trainer’s two winners, Sheer Grunt ($2.30f), who backed up from a Drouin second to score at Woolamai 48 hours later.
The four-year-old daughter of promising young stallion Grunt was having her first two starts for Kilgower having been recently acquired from Warrnambool’s Daniel Bowman.
Kilgower didn’t leave Drouin empty-handed, with Street Boss gelding Street Swagger ($3.50) scoring a narrow victory over the Rob Gillahan-trained Wunambal, who would back up the effort with a fourth at Woolamai.
Kilgower “put his feet up” on New Year’s Day as he bypassed the Merton meeting.
Winners win
A couple of the in-form horses of the season added to their records across the week.
At Drouin on Boxing Day, Marco Spada ($2.10f) brought up his third win of the season when he scored by a half-length from last year’s Horse of the Year, Shahin.
And at Woolamai on Saturday Nicole Dickson’s flying mare Spirit Maker ($3.50) notched win four of the season when she proved too slick over the 888 metres.
Barton does it all
Dual license-holder Tyson Barton had a memorable day at Woolamai winning in the saddle and also on the other side of the fence.
Barton partnered the Kevin Corstens-trained Human Shield ($3.50) to a maiden win at start four to kick off the program before having to forego the ride on his own horse, Kahungunu, in race four due to weight issues.
But doing a fabulous job filling in was Ben Moffat who steered the eight-year-old Warhorse gelding to a length win.
On Wednesdsay at Merton, Barton again trained and rode a winner, the eight-year-old gelding Star of Mattner ($6.50) breaking an almost two-year drought.