As Tony Forbes prepares to contest the 2025 Ladbrokes Kempsey Cup, the experienced mentor still remembers the one that got away from him 23 years ago.
Littermates Rollerdoor Racer and Blue Caledonia were the two fastest qualifiers for the final of the popular Mid North Coast feature back in 2002.
The pair drew Box 4 and 5 respectively in the final, but as is often the case in racing, things didn’t quite go to script once the lure rolled.
“I remember thinking one of them was likely to win, it was just a matter of which one. Anyway, they jumped together and before I knew it, they’d run one another off the track on the first bend,” Forbes laughed.
Tony Forbes alongside Weffalee Lee Lee
“I’m pretty sure the club got some sort of grant at the time because the final was worth $5000 and that was unheard of back in those days.
“But it’s a race I’ve always pushed for and wanted to win. I was a big supporter of the old Kempsey club, and it was always good to me, so to see the race continue now that the tracks up there have all amalgamated [Kempsey, Taree and Wauchope combined to make the Mid North Coast Racing Club in 2024], it’s a great thing.”
64-year-old Forbes is no stranger to feature race wins on the Mid North Coast.
His iron dog, Weffalee Shield, is the reigning Wauchope Cup champion and is one of only two dogs in Australian racing history (the other being Bold Trease) to win the same feature race on three or more consecutive occasions.
The same chaser ran third in April’s Taree Cup final, with Forbes now gunning for the 2025 Ladbrokes Kempsey Cup with rising two-year-old, Weffalee Lee Lee.
“She’s a very quick bitch but I don’t know if she’s a true 500m dog yet,” Forbes said ahead of Wednesday night’s heats at Taree.
“Her best trip right now is somewhere between 400m and 450m but she does have very good early pace and that tends to work out well at Taree with a short run to the first bend.
“If she can lead from Box 4 and find a few lengths on them up the back, she will be very hard to run down. She’s also coming out of a hot form race won by Pete Lagogiane’s Unleash Shirley at Richmond last start so that reads well.”
The daughter of Sennachie x Pa’s Girl is already a six-time winner for Forbes, with an appearance in the rich Robert Smith Memorial maiden final earlier this year highlighting her potential.
“She can really fly but we’ve had a big wet patch up here in the Hunter Valley over the last three months so I haven’t been able to put the work into her that I’d really like to,” Forbes added.
Weffalee Lee Lee has a consistent race record of 16 starts for six wins and eight minor placings
“She had a little niggle back in April as well which kept her off the track for a month, so a few things have worked against me and that’s stopped me getting the absolute best out of her over 500m so far.
“I’m happy to give her three or four more weeks of 500m racing and if she can’t run it out by then, she might have to stick to the shorter trips.”
Weffalee Lee Lee has drawn the sixth and final heat of the Ladbrokes Kempsey Cup (Race 12 on the card), with the preliminaries of the $10,000 series kicking off at 8:52pm on Wednesday night.
