Six life members of the Woodford Racing Club will have races named in their honour at the once-a-year club’s New Year’s Eve meeting celebrating 125 years of racing. 
The Woodford Racing Club has raced as a tenant club at the Warrnambool racecourse since 1946, having begun at the old Woodford racecourse in 1900. 
Life members Peter Haynes, Terry Parkinson, Keith Hammond, Des Roberts, Darryl Wolff and Pat O’Keefe will be recognised on December 31 for their volunteer work. 
Club president Joe Millard says it’s fitting the hard workers are acknowledged.
“The Woodford Racing Club has been run by volunteers for 125 years,” Millard said. “It’s a credit to all the volunteers who have devoted their time. 
“It’s incredible to think that Henry Parkinson was the inaugural president of the club, filling that role for 34 years, and a descendant of his in Terry is a past president and still a committee member. 
“Terry has been on the committee for more than 50 years, which is an outstanding achievement. 
“Keith has been on the committee for more than 40 years and Peter’s involvement goes back more than 30 years. The three of them are still on the committee, which is amazing.”
The club is encouraging members of the community to forward any Woodford Racing Club memorabilia they would like to share to the club for its pre-race function on December 31.
Rule honoured
Nick Rule has been awarded life membership at the Warrnambool Racing Club. Rule, who was on the committee for 12 years and had a stint as chairman, was instrumental in numerous initiatives including the Matilda Room redevelopment and the Grand Annual Walk. 
Rule stood down from the committee a year ago but remains the chairman of the Australian Jumps Racing Association. 
His late father, John, was also a life member and chairman of the Warrnambool Racing Club.
Rain primes Penshurst
The hard-working volunteers at Penshurst are putting in the hours to ensure everything is in readiness for the town’s annual race meeting on Saturday November 22.
Weekend rain has ensured the racing surface and surrounds are in peak condition for the seven-race program.
Club secretary Brendan Kelly said the downpour was a huge bonus.
“We were thinking of irrigating the track again so we were delighted when the rain came on Saturday,” Kelly said. 
“It’s just freshened everything up. We never got much rain last year. This year we’ve had some really good rain, which saves us watering. 
“Ideally, we’d love a bit more about a week before the meeting.”
The 2025 Penshurst Cup offers stakemoney of $40,000.
Black-booker
ERMINIA: The Tom Dabernig-trained mare put in an eye-catching first-up performance at St Arnaud last Saturday. Caught wide, she still hit the line strongly in an 1100-metre benchmark 56. She’ll be improved with that run under her belt and will be hard to beat in similar company next time. 

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