Sport
2 September, 2026
Memorable weekend for Forbes includes Gular success
Melissa Harrison continued a big weekend for Forbes sport when Glowing Rapids won the Gular Cup
By Colin Hodges
Raced at Gulargambone, Saturday, August 29, 2026
Melissa Harrison and her apprentice jockey Jess Del Frari were part of a memorable weekend for sports individuals and teams from Forbes when winning the Inland Petroleum Bill Lambell Memorial Gulargambone Cup on Saturday with Glowing Rapids.
The rugby league teams from Forbes, the firsts, reserves, juniors (under 18s) and league tag, all won their semi-finals to qualify for the Peter McDonald Premiership grand finals, while the Jack Smith, Forbes-trained champion greyhound Magpie Hector ran a huge race when coming from a long way back to finish second to the West Australian star Miss Envy in the $150,000 National Distance Final over 715 metres in Melbourne.
Racing in good form throughout the current campaign for the Forbes based trainer -Melissa Harrison, Glowing Rapids was well-ridden by Jess Del Frari in the 1200 metres Gulargambone Cup.
After having a good run behind the leader Mean Girls (Olivia Dalton, $21), Glowing Rapids ($5.50) drew clear to win by a length, with Rivaldo (Juliet Partridge, $8) a long neck away third.
Racing in front of a big crowd on the very well prepared grass track at Gulargambone, the Brett Robb, Dubbo-trained Vastly won the opening event, the 1800 metres AMPS Agri Benchmark 50 Handicap with Diego Montes de Oca, formerly from Argentina, in the saddle.
Diego Montes de Oca had been riding with success in New Zealand and after his recent move to Dubbo from Sydney he won on the $26 outsider Dusty Vermeer at Narromine for trainer Troy McCarney.
Leading all the way, Vastly ($17) won by three lengths from Aoife (Juliet Partridge, $15) and the $3 favourite Questionable ridden by Clayton Gallagher.
Completing a Gulargambone winning double, Diego Montes de Oca then brought the Connie Greig, Dubbo trained Avoid Me ($5) with a strong run down the outside from well back to beat East Harlem (Emma Ly, $4 favourite) and Our Celebrity (Jasmine Urqahart-Warren, $16) in the 1450 metres Halcroft and Bennett Benchmark 45 Handicap.
Narromine trainer Kylie Kennedy has her team racing well and Calmundi (Juliet Partridge, $5) from midfield gained an inside run to win the 1200 metres Gilgandra Toyota Class One Handicap from Roman Miss (Clayton Gallagher, $6) and Wellspring (Jake Pracey-Holmes, $4 favourite).
The other winners were Hippeastrum (Jacob Stiff, $17) trained at Tamworth by Kevin Dixon and the Liam Ruddy, Scone-trained Stormy Malice (Clayton Gallagher, $2.30 favourite).
In a big day for Gulargambone sport, the Flamin’ Galahs also won an elusive Western Plains Rugby Union Ahrens Cup Tri Tag premiership on the same day as the community’s race meeting, defeating Coonamble 19-7.
