Pat Lonergan, the manager of the syndicate from Glen Innes that not only won a slot in The Kosciuszko but then managed to pick up favourite It's Me to run for them, says the group's good fortune has been "the talk of the town".
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The syndicate bought all of their tickets - about $2000 worth, Lonergan estimates - over a number of weeks at the Glen Innes & District Services Club at the end of their regular Saturday afternoon get-togethers for a few beers and a few bets.
Lonergan was in Inverell, nearly 70 kilometres away, last Friday when he heard one of the winning tickets had been bought at the club.
Thinking there was a fair chance his group had bought it, he rushed back to Glen Innes to check the tickets.
"I had them in my draw at work," he said. "You wouldn't believe it, the first ticket I checked was the winning one. I hope it's a good omen for the race.
"There are 10 of us in the group. We're just a crew that play golf on a Saturday morning and get down to the club in the afternoon for a few beers and a punt. We all throw in 20 bucks each for a few bets and whatever we have left at the end of the day we use to buy Kosciuszko tickets.
"We had about 400 tickets. When we heard one of the winning tickets had come out of the club we couldn't be sure it was us, but we knew it had to be some chance, so I got back to town as quick as I could and next thing you know we're trying to decide on a horse.
"I quickly rang a couple of the blokes who were heavily into the racing and were all over The Kosciuszko and like me they were very keen on It's Me, so I said 'righto, let's try to get her'.
"I rang Brett Cavanough (It's Me's trainer) and he said, 'You must be interested in the mare'. I said, 'certainly am'. So he put me on to the guy representing the owners, Sam Lyons, and said, 'see how you go'.
"I spoke with Sam and he told me what the owners were looking for as far as the prizemoney split went and we thought it was fair. This was a chance to get a really good horse to run for us and I think someone else had tried Brett before us, so we knew we couldn't wait.
"We jumped in and we were very happy."
The group became even happier when they sat at the club last Saturday and saw It's Me continue it's excellent progress towards the $2 million race at Randwick on October 15 with a tremendous fourth in the Group Two Sheraco Stakes at Rosehill.
It's Me won The Kosciuszko in 2020, but was forced to have a long injury lay-off after that. She is now rediscovering her best form.
Lonergan said the syndicate was a mix of men from various occupations who had worked hard all their lives and were now thoroughly enjoying the bonus of feeling like owners for a day of a terrific horse in a rich race.
"We're all mates who live in the area," he said. "I manage the local golf club. We've got a couple of farmers, a couple of others involved in the wool industry, a couple of retires, a builder . . . A bit of everything.
"I'm 62. We're all in our 50s or 60s. One bloke's a bit older. We've bought a heap of tickets for The Kosciuszko every year, but this is the first time we've won.
"Most of us play golf together on Saturday mornings. The golf club's a few kilometres out of town and we're all back in town at the Services Club by one o'clock.
"A big cheer went up from us last Saturday when we watched It's Me run so well in a Group race. She was unlucky not to finish closer.
"Us getting a slot in The Kosciuszko has been the talk of the town. People have been pulling me up and saying, 'I heard you got a ticket, that's great'. I've had phone calls from people all over the place.
"One of the blokes from a group we know from Grafton who come to the Glen Innes Cup every year rang me and said, 'Is that you who got the ticket?'. I said, 'sure is'."
The next step for the syndicate will be living the dream at Randwick on the day of the race.
"I've been involved in horses for years," Lonergan said. "Nothing too sensational. Never been involved with anything as good as It's Me - nowhere near it.
"We're all planning to go to the race. Make a weekend of it. Probably lob down there on Thursday night and not leave before Sunday at the earliest."
