Major interest expressed ahead of Esperance season-opener later this month

Esperance Bay Turf Club’s 40th anniversary at its Bandy Creek headquarters is proving to be a nostalgic drawcard in the lead-up to the season-opener on November 23.

The majority of the club’s 10 annual meetings will be raced on Fridays and Saturdays, with four apiece scheduled under those formats.

They will be broken up by the Thursday Boxing Day meeting and the season-finale on Sunday, March 2 featuring the $100,000 Freight Lines Group Esperance Cup (2000m).

Club president Ken Norton said early indications were that big horse numbers would accompany the 2024-25 campaign.

“Everything is basically in order and the track at this stage looks brilliant,” Mr Norton said.

“Local horse numbers are huge, and we’ve got quite a few visiting trainers coming, that we know of.

“A couple are still undecided, but I don’t think horse numbers are going to be a problem.

“Being our 40th year at this track, there are at least a couple of (visiting) trainers who’ve said that they will be coming down (to the south coast), after having made those trips back in the day.”

Manavendra’s success in the 2024 Esperance Cup as the $3.40 favourite delivered co-trainers Daniel and Ben Pearce their first cup triumph on the south coast.

The result broke a two-year hold on the race by trainer Adam Durrant, who was successful with Soviet Spy (2023) and Off Wego (2022), and foiled Steve Wolfe’s bid for a sixth Esperance Cup triumph.

Wolfe enjoyed three consecutive Esperance Cup victories with Special Jester (2005, 2006) and Kingston Classic (2007).

The veteran horseman’s first cup success was in 2002 with Jeune’s Fantasy and Impact Rating’s 2009 victory yielded the last of his cup successes.

Esperance racing dates:

Saturday, November 23.

Friday, December 6.

Saturday, December 14.

Thursday, December 26.

Friday, January 3.

Friday, January 17.

Saturday, January 25.

Saturday, February 1.

Friday, February 14.

Sunday, March 2 (Esperance Cup).