THE Cranbourne Harness Racing Club picked up two major awards at the Harness Racing Victoria Awards ceremony held at Tabcorp Park, Melton, on Saturday night.
With this year’s Cranbourne Cup looming large on the horizon, it was last year’s instalment of the club’s biggest race that captured the 2010-2011 Country Cup of the Year award.
Last year’s winner I’m Themightyquinn will be back to defend his crown in the group one classic on Saturday 10 December.
Cranbourne also won Country Club of the Year for clubs conducting more than 16 meetings, and an outstanding individual from the region took home the industry’s highest honour.
A true luminary of the sport, former local trainer/driver Ted Demmler took home the Gordon Rothacker Medal for outstanding and sustained contribution to the sport in Victoria.
In a career spanning five decades, Demmler has accumulated more than 2000 training wins and 3000 triumphs in the sulky, including 15 seasons where he drove at least 100 winners. He was a four-time Australian Driving Champion, first achieving the honour in 1979 before notching a hat-trick of domination from 1982-84.
Demmler’s driving career ended with a fall in 2005, but the reinsman was far from lost to the sport, retaining his training and ownership interests.
Last season, Demmler celebrated his first Group One win as an owner when Charlie Machsheen bolted clear on July 8 in the 2YO Colts and Geldings Final at Tabcorp Park, Melton.
“On behalf of HRV and the harness racing community I offer Ted a hearty congratulations from the industry for his decades of commitment and service,” HRV chairman Ken Latta said.
“His achievements on the track will never be forgotten and the Demmler name is a stellar and worthy addition to the Rothacker Medal honour roll.”
The moment of the occasion was not lost on Demmler.
“This is the most prestigious award anyone can win in harness racing,” he said.
“I started out as a strapper and was determined to get to the top of the sport. Gordon was a real idol of mine and when he retired, I was so proud to be his driver. Thanks to HRV and the board. I am very, very honoured.”
The Rothacker Medal was first presented a decade ago and the recipients list has become like a who’s who of harness racing, Demmler being number 11 on the list.
Rothacker dominated the Melbourne Showgrounds for three decades, winning 14 Melbourne Drivers’ Premierships and 10 Melbourne Trainers’ Premierships. He was also the first reinsman to land 500 winners in Melbourne, doing so at Moonee Valley in 1987, some 39 years after driving his first winner at the showgrounds as an 18 year old in the inaugural season of night trotting.
Gordon Rothacker passed away on 16 November 2010, just days after last year’s Rothacker Medal presentation. He was a true legend of the sport in every sense of the word and his name will live on through the award.
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