GOSFORD GOLD CUP

Presenters: Sophie Grant and Ben

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We could have driven to Gosford.

Everyone drives.

But Ben got it into his head that the proper way to see this stretch of coast was from a train window, and for once I’m glad I let him win the argument.

We picked it up north of Sydney and almost immediately the city began to fall away.

The line drops through Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, sandstone and gum trees pressing close to the tracks, and for long stretches there’s barely a building in sight.

Then it opens up.

The Hawkesbury appears below you in pieces. A glimpse of a bay. Moored boats. Oyster leases sitting in neat lines along the shallows.

Then the train crosses the river itself on the great steel railway bridge.

Ben had his face properly pressed to the glass for that bit.

From there the line follows Mullet Creek, sometimes remarkably close to the water, before disappearing into the old Woy Woy tunnel.

There’s something almost theatrical about plunging into that darkness and eventually emerging into daylight with Brisbane Water waiting on the other side.

Blue inlets.

Green headlands.

And suddenly you’re on the Central Coast.

We’d only planned on a day trip, but Gosford has a way of talking you into staying, so we found a room and let the weekend run.

On Sunday we pushed on to Terrigal, with its long sweep of beach and the Skillion rising at the southern end. We walked around the Haven and up towards the headland with what appeared to be half of Sydney already there.

Apparently the secret is out.

Before heading home we found our way to The Entrance, where Tuggerah Lake meets the sea.

Ben stood watching the pelicans for a solid ten minutes, filming them as though he’d never encountered a bird before.

By the time we packed up, going home felt like entirely the wrong decision.

If you’ve never taken the train up this way, leave the car behind next time.

The Hawkesbury looks a different kind of beautiful from a carriage window.

And once you reach the Coast, give yourself the weekend.

We very nearly didn’t come home.

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THE GOSFORD GOLD CUP REPORT
9 May 2026

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Sixty-One Kilos and All

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Mid afternoon Saturday and finally Ben had temporarily stopped talking about trains.

There was a Cup to watch.

Sophie looked down the field.

“Number one. Asterix.”

Ben saw the weight.

“Sixty-one kilos?”

“Apparently.”

“That seems a lot.”

For once, neither of them needed Kenny or Finn around to explain.

Asterix was a Group 1 winner, trained by Chris Waller and ridden by Jason Collett, but carrying 61 kilos around Gosford over 2100 metres was still some ask.

Collett settled him into the race and waited.

Coming towards the turn, Asterix began to move.

Ben leaned forward.

“He’s travelling.”

Sophie looked at him.

“Listen to you.”

“I’ve learnt things.”

Into the straight, Zaphod was fighting.

But Asterix kept coming.

Sixty-one kilos and all.

Collett drove him through the final stages and the big gelding simply refused to give in.

Asterix had won the Gosford Gold Cup.

Ben watched him come back.

“Good strong horse.”

“The most weight carried to victory in the race this century. Plus as Chris Waller said “ that was greatest weight carried to victory in the race since metric weights were introduced in 1972.”

Sophie smiled.

“Now you sound like Kenny.”

Ben considered that.

“I preferred the train.”​​

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