2019 Winning Jockey - Renee Forrest
Please open the Rockingham Beach Cup 2019 photo album to view a wonderful selection of photographs from Club Members, Friends and Photo coffee
FEMALE jockey, Renee Forrest “rode like a girl” to pilot her mount Princess Satab first past the winning post to win the 2019 Rockingham Beach Cup. The bay mare — owned by Don Archer and trained by David Harrison of Serpentine— thundered past the winning post a length in front of her nearest rival.
Race commentator Darren McCauley declared that Forrest rode a tactical race into Cup history when she won this unique event in front of a huge crowd. He reminded the crowd that history had also been set in the second Cup race, when it was won by Danny Miller, then the country’s oldest jockey. (He has since retired. Estimates of visitors to the beach Cup carnival, which began on the Saturday and continued all day Sunday, initially ranged between 34,000 and 36,000.
The race attracted many more boats than in previous years. They were moored just a hundred or more metres offshore, so their passengers had an uninterrupted view of the races. And few race courses in the world offer swimmers a “royal box" view of horses and riders galloping by. The weather could not have been better, with a balmy maximum of 24 degrees and a gentle sea breeze for most of Sunday. Rockingham City Council had given the Rotary Club of Palm Beach $150,000 to help run the event. This attracted criticism from some but Mayor Barry Sammels said, at the trophy presentation, that the city had been looking for an iconic event “and we think this is it”. Rob McGavin, who organised the racing side of the big day praised the city council for its vision
Earlier in the day, local MP and State Premier Mark McGowan asked: “How good is Rocky?” He in turn was asked, by Channel 7 sports commentator Mark Readings, if special legislation could be passed to allow betting on the Rockingham Beach Cup and its qualifying races. No betting is allowed because the Churchill Park foreshore is not a licensed race course.
Rotary Club of Palm Beach president Kevin McDonnell was still exhausted the following morning, but fronting up ― with other club members ― to remove all traces of the festival from Churchill Park.
He lauded the hard work of Beach Cup committee chairs, Michael McCafferty and Donna McDonald, carnival coordinator Mick le-Cocq, racing coordinator Rob McGavin and Variety’s Brad Dean.
He was also grateful to event coordinator Luke Hanley, who was employed thanks to the city council grant, and Genevieve Bailey. and all members of the club.