“That was my greatest win! I’ve never ever won a feature Cup like that in race record time!”
That emotional sentence summed up the feelings from very promising Exeter reinswoman, Taylah Osmond, following Sunday’s (April 14) 2025 Goulburn Cup.
The gifted 20-year-old drove the James Rattray-trained Whereyabinboppin to a $49.30 upset win in the Goulburn Soldiers Club Frank & Edna Day Goulburn Cup. The 9-year-old A Rocknroll Dance gelding’s time of 2:38:8 (1:54:1 mile-rate) for the 2,240-metre mobile lowered For A Reason’s January 2014 race record by 0.2 of a second.
It was also only 0.1 of a second outside the Goulburn track record time of 2:38.7 (1:54) set by Bling It On in the TAB Odds & Evens Walla Walla Stakes on January 19, 2020.
“I enjoy racing at Goulburn and this is one race I will remember for a long time. Even though the horse (Whereyabinboppin) is a bit of a cranky and cantankerous fella – and wouldn’t hesitate biting you – I like him a lot. I’ve really got to know him over the last year and I feel he’s getting better with age.”
“I felt in the warm-up he was really on-song on Sunday. He just felt strong, and then when I asked him to accelerate late in the Cup he really sprinted strongly. I am so proud of him and James. I’m also grateful to all the owners. I’m still buzzing,” said Osmond, who has worked for Rattray since leaving school three years ago.
“I celebrated with a beer while I was feeding up later that night,” she added.
2025 Goulburn Cup post race presentation (Photograph – Lance Fearne Photograph)
Trainer, Rattray, admitted the drive was near perfect, as he watched the $35,700 feature event on TV with his one-year-old daughter, Estelle, while fiancée, Fiona Cox, was undertaking her duties as the course vet at Goulburn.
“We were leaping and yelling from our lounge at home. Taylah’s drive won the Cup. She knows the horse so well. Taylah has being doing all the work with him for the past year or so now, and I had full confidence that she would get the best out of him. It’s surprised me how he’s become more adaptable and versatile in his racing as the years have ticked on.”
“He’s always had a lot of ability, but now that he’s nine, he can come from behind, which he never used to be able to. He was more of a front-runner, but now he handles all trips and race situations. I couldn’t believe the price he paid considering he won on the track and went 1:55.6 over the same trip in early February.”
“Taylah drove him that day as well. He was favourite and sat third on the markers before sitting parked down the back. He then dug deep late in the straight to win. I thought that was a gutsy effort,” said Rattray, who has now won his first Goulburn Cup.
“On Sunday Taylah got a nice drag into the race down the back straight behind Captain Ravishing and then when she pulled the trigger, he just ran away from them. That was a brilliant drive. I couldn’t have asked for any better,” the 39-year-old added.
Captain Ravishing, who was a Miracle Mile starter this year, and is a former TAB Eureka place-getter in 2023, was a pronounced $1.07 favourite but was well beaten on the home turn.
Whereyabinboppin ran away from his nine opponents in the home-straight to win easily by 8.7 metres. It was his 27th victory in 95 starts, and second triumph from nine starts this season. He has also placed 14 times and now netted $354,032 in stakes money. He is owned by breeder Troy Saddler and D M Crawford, A J Cullen, S Tobin, S E Hunt, D W Falconer, G W Rake, S Snowden, and C Kendall.
Whereyabinboppin’s quickest winning mile-rate of 1:49.8 was recorded at Menangle on December 3, 2022, when Rattray trained and drove him to win the $20,000 Multiquip Quarries Pace. He finished 10th in last year’s Goulburn Cup.
Rattray paid a tribute to his fiancée, Cox who is a vet at the Silverhill Veterinary Care Clinic and Equine Rehabilitation Facility at 357 Ellsmore Rd in Exeter.
“Fiona has managed to keep the horse sound through the various issues he has experienced in his racing career. The way he has been able to keep going is a real credit to her. As a 9-year-old she has had to treat him with multiple issues, and has played an integral part in his racing success,” Rattray said.
He said Whereyabinboppin had several trainers before he got him in mid-2021.
“Monday’s win was his 13th triumph for us. He’d now be in the top five of the 15 horses I’ve got in work,” Rattray said
He said his top three would be the 2023 Queensland Trotters Cup and Great Square Group One champ – London To A Brick (1:53.8 – 13 wins and $352,517); recent Chariots Of Fire runner (fourth) – Our Luciano (1:49.8 – eight wins and $131,634); plus – Nyack (1:49 – 18 wins and $277,913).
However, they all have some way to go to better his best racehorses. Rattray, who has trained 11, and has driven 13 Group One winners, includes in his stable of stars the twice Inter Dominion grand final (2014 and 2015) winner, and the 2013 Miracle Mile winner, Beautide. Others included Ignatius, Arts Treasure, Gordons Bay, and London To A Brick who have all brought him further listed and group racing glory.
Rattray, is originally from Longford in Tasmania, and came to ‘the Mainland’ in 2012. He spent five years in the USA and drove about 30 winners, including the Noel Daley-trained All Laid Out to Stakes Group One glory. In Australia he has saluted the judge 543 times, had 857 placings and bagged $8,431,269 in career stakes since taking out his driver’s licence in 2002-2003.
Training-wise Rattray has been victorious on 405 occasions, placed 579 times, and netted $6,878,837.
“I really enjoy racing and living near Goulburn. I like the Club and my fiancée also works there. The lifestyle suits our family,” said Rattray, who since 2012 has been based on his 60-acre property at Exeter – 63km north-east of Goulburn.
The Goulburn Trotters Cup and Rose Pace:
The two other highlight events on the eight-strong race card – the $17,850 Goulburn Trotters Cup (race 5); and the $20,400 Goulburn Rose Pace (race 7) were taken out by favourites.
In the trot the Bruce Birch trained and driven Sheetweb Weaver led and trailed before racing away to win by 6.8 metres as the $2.50 favourite. It was the 6-year-old Yankee Spider gelding’s fifth victory in a row after winning his previous four at Tabcorp Park Menangle. He trotted a 1:58:7 mile-rate for the 2,240m mobile
The Seaton Grima trained and driven Stormy Woods led all the way in the ‘Rose’. The 3-year-old son of The Storm Inside looked beaten half-way down the straight but tenaciously dug deep to win by half-a-neck.
That $2 favourite paced a 1:57.3 mile-rate for the 2,240m mobile, and is now undefeated in his last four starts.
Thankyou Frank and Edna Day – May you always rest in peace!
But the meeting also belonged to the late, Frank and Edna Day, who produced 10 children – many of which have gone onto great things in racing.
Sunday’s race-day and Cup were named in their honour. The lovely couple hailed from Crookwell, and both came from harness racing families who dabbled in the light harness sport.
Frank drove his first winner on the Frank Hewitt owned Mara King, and following their union in 1950 the couple went on to an extensive and successful career with not only the standardbred horse, but later still, the thoroughbred horses.
In 1969 the family moved to Goulburn setting up stables at the Goulburn Recreation Area, and then the Ottiwell Street premises where the Day names continue training winners today. They became a full-time harness racing family leading in countless winners over the years, including top grade individuals such as Willie Rip, Valda’s Lad, Come Again, and the Miracle Mile winner Friendly Footman.
Through Frank and Edna, the Day name was propelled to the upper echelons of the Australian harness racing industry.
Frank was also instrumental in driving the construction of the 1050m harness racing track Goulburn enjoys today. Sadly, Frank passed away in July 1988, and then 21 years later Edna Day died in the family home.
