Fire up for Ippy's biggest winter event New

Date: 24-Apr-2025

PREPARATIONS are well under way for the region's biggest annual winter event, as the Ipswich Turf Club prepare to welcome many thousands of revellers to its richest TAB Ipswich Cup meeting ever.

The annual favourites comprising trackside marquees, infield festival and a swathe of public function areas will play out in front of a race meeting where almost $1.3million in prizemoney is up for grabs on June 21.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to attend feature race meetings all around Australia, as well as internationally and as an event, the Ipswich Cup stacks up against all of them,” Ipswich Turf Club Chief Executive Nathan Exelby said.

“Sure, there’s not the pomp and ceremony of those interstate meetings, or even the big name horses, but what makes the Ipswich Cup such a standout is how close you can get to the action.

“There’s something special and adrenaline-rushing about being up close to a group of thoroughbreds when they are in full flight.

“And Cup day at Ipswich affords you that opportunity. Those marquees that line the track for the best part of 200m are so popular because you can actually feel what’s happening in a race, while at the same time being in a truly jovial atmosphere for the rest of the afternoon in between races. It’s similar for our other function spaces like Gordon’s Terrace and Grange Garden – you get the chance to be up close and personal with the athletes.”

Exelby said the feeling is reciprocated by trainers and in particular jockeys, who appreciate being able to ply their skills to a full house and soak up the heaving atmosphere.

“It’s a common theme for jockeys to say how much they enjoy coming to Ipswich on Cup Day,” he said. “Just as long as we turn off the music when the horses go on the track!”

Preparing for Ipswich Cup Day is a year-round project for the small, tight-knit ITC team.

ITC Operations Manager Jarrod Thorpe said preparations for the 2025 Cup meeting began a day after last year’s Cup, which survived and thrived, despite the menace of an overnight fire in the public grandstand.

“Obviously last year presented us with a huge curveball when we lost that entire building, which included three different function rooms, but we were able to react quickly and still provide most people with a memorable experience,” Thorpe said.

“It is a huge event to put on and from January onwards, we really start to ramp up preparations.

“This year we have tweaked a few things and added a couple of new function areas, but obviously being mindful not to tinker with the formula that has been so successful for the Club on Cup Day over the decades.”

The 2025 TAB Ipswich Cup will be the richest race day ever run in Ipswich, with almost $1.3million in prizemoney up for grabs across the nine-race program.

The showpiece TAB Ipswich Cup is worth $250,000, with the $200,000 Barrier Reef Pools Eye Liner Stakes and $160,000 Gordon’s Gin Gai Waterhouse Classic rounding out a trio of stakes races on the card.

The T.L. Cooney Handicap, which has recent results that have it knocking on the door of becoming a black type race as well, has received an injection of funds up to $150,000, or for fully qualified QTIS (Queensland-bred) horses, as much as $200,000 is up for grabs in that race.

A new concept for 2025 is the Great Northern Ipswich Incentive Final, which will see some of the up and coming sprinters in south-east Queensland vie for the $85,000 pool, with the winning trainer to receive a $5000 bonus.

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