Following Wodonga Council’s decision on Monday night to extend the Gold Cup public holiday for another three years, Racing Wodonga CEO Tom O’Connor remains hopeful of a major boost for the event’s prize money as a result.

The Gold Cup has risen from $200,000 in 2013 to $298,000 in 2017 across the full programme, with $90,000 at stake for last year’s feature race.

A review is currently under way in regards to cup funding across regional Victoria and Racing Wodonga is in discussions with the status of the Wodonga Gold Cup.

“We’re hopeful through the review that we’ll get it across the line to be over $100,000,” O’Connor said.

“We believe that’s at a good amount for the level of horses we’re attracting at that time of year.

“We’re very much keen to see the support programme around the Cup grow as well, so there’s good prize money for the lesser races on the day.

“It will come out before the new racing season, but no timelines have been given as to whether there will be increases into the new season.

“We believe we’re certainly one club that’s on a good growth strategy with our Cup meeting, which does play a role in the decision-making for prize money.”

The Wodonga Gold Cup has been the beneficiary of a full-day public holiday in lieu of the Melbourne Cup since 2014 and will continue until at least 2021 thanks to the council’s 4-3 vote.

“We’re very appreciative of the council’s consideration and the decision that was handed down last (Monday) night,” O’Connor added.

“It offers great stability to the planning in all areas of the event.

“There’s over 30 Wodonga businesses that are involved in helping deliver the event, so it offers a great boost to all involved.

“The event has certainly grown the reputation for the city of Wodonga in the racing industry by the status and the size of the event on the day.

“We get great industry support and that’s only going to grow.

“We’ve seen strong representation from local trainers at Wodonga and also across the Border in Albury.

“Trainers from regional Victoria and southern NSW are getting right behind the event as well and bringing quality horses.

“We want to showcase the best on our Cup day and the more work we can put into that by attracting the bigger trainers, the bigger the programme is and the greater the impact on Wodonga.”