Werribee Racing Club’s new general manager believes the Werribee Cup is onto a winner with its December race date.
Ashley Baker, who took over the reins from general manager Glenn Scott two months ago, said the Werribee Cup would continue to run in December, with crowd numbers steadily increasing since it was permanently moved to December three years ago.
Historically, the Werribee Cup was run on the Wednesday before the Melbourne Cup – usually late October – but organisers struggled to hold down a consistent date once the international quarantine centre opened in the suburb in 2010.
“Prior management have done a lot of hard work and we got over 4500 people here last year [for the Werribee Cup], we want to aim for 6000 this year and continue to grow on that number going forward,” Mr Baker said.
Mr Baker started out his racing career as racing manager for racehorse trainer David Brideoake in Mornington, before moving to the state racing department.
He also runs his own business, Thorough Communications Solutions, which films all of the jump-outs across Melbourne and other media services.
Now, Mr Baker is keen to re-forge ties between Werribee Racing Club and the community, and particularly wants to grow the use of its functions and events centre.
“What I have noticed is that this club is rich in history, and has been around for a very long time. Due to whatever reasons, it’s been a little bit lost in the community, my goal is to put us firmly back on the map within the local community and the broader racing industry in Victoria.
“The footy club do it very well, we need to be like that … we need to connect like other sporting clubs do locally.”
