Horse Racing
23 April, 2025
Angry Skies wins Easter Cup
The traditional Easter races at Warracknabeal has been deemed an overwhelming success with an increased crowd attendance this year.
Except for a slight shower, the day turned out perfect weather conditions.
For many it was a reunion for family and friends in the friendly atmosphere of the racing precinct.
The $50,000 Emmett's Warracknabeal Cup was won by the $13.00 outsider Angry Skies ridden by Pail Gatt and trained by talented brothers Ben, Will and JD Hayes and Euroa.
The 5-year-old had little form having finished last at both his last two starts in March at Flemington and Geelong.
Warrnambool trained Dark Harmony was second and the odds on favourite El James third in the six horse field.
The day started with uncertainty when the opening race on the program was declared a no race after the barrier stalls opened on a delayed start.
There is a false start light and siren located up the track to alert jockeys if there is a start malfunction and in this case the siren was sounded but the light failed.
About half the field continued on to the finish, confusion reigned about after industry vets examined the horses they found it would be unfair on all to restart the race.
It was suspected that it could have been a solenoid or battery failure.
There were no more barrier incidents at the meeting.
This no race is a very rare occurrence and never happened at Warracknabeal at least in the last 50 years.
In the Warrack Concrete 0-58 over 1000 metres Shimshalar set a track record of 57.39 seconds, beating the time of 57.55 by Desert Spirit at Easter 2021.
For the young trainer Sharnijulian of Edenhope she was excited by the win as it was her second career win since obtaining her licence in December last year.
Racing continued on Tuesday at the course when industry official trials were conducted.
In all 69 horses from 15 stables competed in the 11 races.
The morning replicated a race meeting with races broadcast and televised and now appear on racing.com.
