Swift Platinum storms home to win Roebourne Cup

Fillies and fellas frocked up and headed trackside for the biggest and last race meeting of the season at the Nor West Jockey Club.

The running of the 152nd Roebourne Cup attracted a 1300-strong crowd and a highlight of the day came in a mixed-gender 100m running race down the main straight after race three.

On the track, feature race — the 2200m TABtouch Roebourne Cup — was won by Swift Platinum, ridden by jockey Michelle Hagley and trained by Peter Bamford, who finished about eight lengths ahead of the competition.

Everymile A Memory, Speed ‘n’ Reef and Ballidu Bomber finished second, third and fourth.

Bamford said everyone wanted to go to Roebourne and win the cup.

“This is not the first time we’ve come here trying to win; Michelle and I came up two years ago and missed out, coming in second,” he said.

“It’s the ultimate goal and really amazing for both of us.”

Swift Platinum also had a second honour on the day after tying for horse of the year with Kilkenny Joe, who ran to first place in race three, the 1200m Pindan Handicap.

Hagley also had an impressive day out, riding Greco to victory in the opening race and taking out jockey of the year alongside Chris Nicoll.

Trainer of the year was won by Tom Pike, whose horse Force Element ran to an easy victory in the final race of the day.

Nor West Jockey Club president Nick Furnivall said cup day was one of those traditional events, such as the Melbourne Cup, which everyone wanted to go.

“Whether it’s for the actual races or not, it’s a social event and it’s really popular,” he said.

“We got the crowd in, there were no long queues, the people got what they wanted quite quickly and no one was stressed by the day.”

The facilities at Roebourne underwent massive improvements from last year, which Furnivall said people were really impressed by.

“A lot of people liked that there is more room to move around, people really liked the members’ lounge and the public shade made a big difference,” he said.