Simone Altieri takes out second Broome Cup atop Ombudsman

While wet winter weather had the southern part of the State firmly in its grip, Broome last weekend was basking in 34 degree sunshine, which made the perfect scenario for the Broome Cup meeting at Gantheaume Point. It followed a great Ladies’ Day meeting earlier in the week, which saw a crowd of about 4,000 on course, with fashions on the field highlighting the beauty and dress sense of the fairer sex. On Saturday, a near record crowd swarmed on course long before the first race, prepared to enjoy the day to the full, and they weren’t disappointed. An eight event program produced terrific racing, which saw apprentice jockeys Luke Campbell and Austen Galati each ride two winners, and Perth Cup winning jockey Kyra Yuill also chimed in with a double, but the day belonged to trainer Darryn Pateman, jockey Simone Altieri, and a horse called Ombudsman. Pateman and his team of horses are seen on the south coast at Esperance each summer, and then the team heads north, racing from Carnarvon, to Hedland, Roebourne, Broome and Derby. While he is no stranger to Cups, he had never won a Broome Cup, so it was a very emotional Darryn who accepted this year’s trophy. The Pateman team will be next seen in Kununurra in a few days, for the racing season there. The horse Ombudsman, is an eight year old gelding, which began its racing career in NSW. He found its way to the Pateman yard nearly two years ago, and made his first trip to Broome last year when it won an 1800m race. This year the horse travelled to the Pilbara, where he ran in the Roebourne and Hedland Cups - which proved good lead up races to the Broome Cup success. And as for jockey Simone Altieri — she wrote herself into the record books in 2017, becoming the first female jockey to win a Broome Cup in 125 years. The following year she won a Kimberley Cup. Since then she has won several Country Cups, leading up to her second Broome Cup last Saturday. She now joins a select few jockeys to have ever won two Broome Cups. We think she can justifiably call herself Kimberley Cups Queen. This weekend racing comes to Kununurra for three Saturday meetings over two weeks. Broome horses will meet the NT gallopers, with Skywest coverage Australia wide.