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21.
Scone's unique horse festival on again
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01/05/2002 |
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Racing & Breeding News
Brian Russell Bloodstock Media Service
The annual show window of the Hunter Valley horse industry opens at Scone on Thursday, May 9 and continues with scheduled activity every day through to a grand finale, the annual yearling sale, on Sunday May 19. Now in its twentieth successive year, the festival symbolises the region's long association with the horse.
It is an association which goes back nearly two hundred years, horse rearing commencing with the settlement of the Upper Hunter including the granting of the famous Segenhoe Valley near Scone to English businessman Potter McQueen. He brought the first sire from overseas to be used at Segenhoe in the mid 1820s.
Since then many thousands of horses, not only thoroughbreds but stock horses, polo ponies and work horses, have been produced on the fertile plains and the hills of the Hunter river nurtured valley. In that time Scone has become recognised as the capital of the Australian horse industry.
After World War 11, a regular feature every year has been the staging within a few days of each other of the annual Scone thoroughbred sales and Cup Carnival. These were the core of the initial foundation of the Horse Festival in May each year.
This year the festival is to again embrace two days of selling, both conducted by William Inglis & Son.They open the selling with the offering of a broodmare and weanling catalogue on Thursday, May 16 and follow with the Hunter Thoroughbred BreedersYearling sale on the Sunday, May19. The yearling section is Australia's major country sale and this year is covered by a catalogue of 213 lots including offspring of such well known sires as Spectrum,Thunder Gulch, Beautiful Crown, Secret Savings, Lion Hunter, Switch In Time, Danehill Dancer, Anaaba and Danzero.
The one day Scone Cup carnival is held between the two sales, staged on Friday, May17. It is Australia's richest country meeting and offers $434,350 in prize money and trophies and also a $100,000 bonus for connections of three winners prepared by the one trainer.The program includes the $204,000 Inglis Challenge Open Plate for juveniles, the $85,000 Listed Dark Jewel Classic for fillies and mares, $50,000 Peptech Scone Cup and $40,000 Emirates Park Open Quality.
In addition to the sales and race carnival, there will be activity day and night through the ten days of the festival including the traditional street parade at Scone on Saturday morning May 10. Other attractions include hunt meets, visits to studs and vineyards, heavy horse field days, a breeders dinner, sporting events and a wide variety of other entertainment.
Racing & Breeding News
Brian Russell Bloodstock Media Service
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