Gundagai — Snake Gully Cup

Sophie Grant

You know, I’d driven past Gundagai a dozen times on the way to somewhere else before I actually stopped. Everyone does. It’s the halfway point between Sydney and Melbourne, so it becomes this blur out the window, a servo, a stretch of the legs, then gone again.
But stop properly and it’s a different town altogether.

Gundagai sits beside the Murrumbidgee, with the old Prince Alfred Bridge still part of its story, and there’s a quiet weight to the place once you know its history.

 

"Stop properly and it’s a different town altogether."

The town was devastated by the great flood of 1852, and amid that tragedy came one of Gundagai’s most enduring stories. Two local Wiradjuri men, Yarri and Jacky Jacky, took to the floodwaters and helped rescue townspeople trapped by the rising water. Their courage is remembered today in a memorial near the river, and it’s worth stopping there for a moment.

Sheridan Street has that classic wide country-town feel, verandahs, old pubs and a bakery that smells exactly like a country bakery should. Pop into the Visitor Information Centre and you’ll find Rusconi’s Marble Masterpiece, the extraordinary work of stonemason Frank Rusconi, created over decades and almost impossible to explain properly until you’ve stood in front of it.

And of course, out on the Hume, there’s that dog.

Sitting where he’s always sat.

"I came through for the Snake Gully Cup, and I’ll be honest, I stayed longer than I planned."

 

"I stayed longer than I planned."

If you’re building next year’s Country Cup trail, put Gundagai down early. Give yourself the afternoon before the races, not just the morning of.

Because Gundagai is one of those towns you can drive past a dozen times.

You only have to stop once to understand why you shouldn’t.

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THE SNAKE GULLY CUP REPORT

14 November 2025

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Ticklebelly Takes the Snake Gully Cup

By the time Kenny found the others at Gundagai Racecourse, the place had changed completely from the quiet country town Sophie had wandered through the afternoon before.

Snake Gully Cup Day had arrived.

The crowd was in, the bookmakers were busy, the bars were doing their bit and somewhere among it all Finn had found himself a position with a decent view of the track.

Kenny looked at him.

“Righto. What have you got?”

Finn glanced down at the field.

“Ticklebelly.”

Kenny raised an eyebrow.

“The favourite? That’s adventurous.”

“I don’t have to find one at twenty-to-one every week.”

Tommy laughed.

“First sensible thing the boy’s said all trip.”

There was plenty against her if you wanted to go looking for trouble. Ticklebelly had 57.5 kilos, and Cavalier Charles was an experienced old campaigner carrying 61.5.

But the five-year-old mare from Scott Collings’ Goulburn stable had something else.

She was ready.

Pierre Boudvillain bounced her out cleanly and for a moment Ticklebelly was right there near the lead before settling comfortably into second.

At the 800 metres she was still second.

At the 400, still second.

Kenny folded the form guide.

“She’s travelling.”

Finn didn’t answer.

He was watching Pierre.

Around the bend they came and, with about 300 metres left, Boudvillain asked the question.

TICKLEBELLY ANSWERED
SHE HIT THE FRONT AND KICKED

For a few seconds it looked as though she might put the Snake Gully Cup away there and then.

But Cavalier Charles wasn’t finished.

The old boy came after her.

Two hundred metres became one hundred and suddenly the comfortable lead wasn’t comfortable at all.

“Here he comes!” Tommy yelled.

Finn was already on his feet.

Cavalier Charles kept coming.

Ticklebelly kept finding.

The post arrived with the pair almost together.

For a moment nobody around Kenny was quite certain.

Then the number went up.

9. TICKLEBELLY

Finn turned slowly towards Kenny.

Kenny knew what was coming.

“Don’t.”

Finn grinned.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were about to.”

Pierre Boudvillain brought Ticklebelly back in the lilac colours with the red sash and white cap, and somewhere behind all the celebration was a number worth remembering.

1:21.21.   

A new Gundagai track record.

Cavalier Charles had gone down fighting, with Villasaurus taking third, but the 2025 Snake Gully Cup belonged to Scott Collings, Pierre Boudvillain and a tough little mare called Ticklebelly.

And with it came something else.

A place on the road towards the Big Dance.

Kenny tucked the form guide under his arm.

“One down.”

Tommy looked at him.

“How many of these bloody Cups are we doing?”

"All of them "

Kenny started walking.

“All of them.”

Finn followed.

“Good.”

And somewhere behind them, Gundagai was still celebrating.