NOWRA - NOWRA CUP

Presenters: Sophie Grant and Ben

Ben’s been wanting a reason to stop in Nowra properly for years. We usually just blow through on the way to Jervis Bay, foot down, beach on the brain.

This time we actually parked the car.

 

THE TOWN

The town sits above the Shoalhaven River, and one interpretation of the name Nowra links it to the black cockatoo. It felt about right. We heard them before we saw them, that unmistakable screech drifting over from the trees along the water.

Nowra’s had a few lives. It grew substantially after devastating floods struck the older settlement of Terara in the nineteenth century, and these days it’s very much the region’s commercial hub.

But there’s still a country town underneath all that if you go looking.

 

DOWN BY THE RIVER

We found it down at the river.

Ben’s Walk is a shaded track following the Shoalhaven, named after local man Ben Walsh, who helped establish the walk during the Depression years.

My Ben found this far too pleasing to let go of for the rest of the afternoon.

We wandered it slowly, watched a couple of blokes fishing off the rocks, and Ben got talking to one of them about tides and whiting for what felt like half an hour while I went and found us both a coffee.

Later we called into Meroogal, the beautiful old house near the centre of town, preserved with the belongings and stories of generations of women who lived there.

 

A WEEKEND WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN YEARS AGO

It’s the kind of place that makes you slow right down and look properly.

We’d come down for the Nowra Cup, and it turned out to be the perfect excuse for a weekend we probably should have taken years ago.

If a river town with a bit of naval history, a good walk and a decent pub somewhere nearby sounds like your kind of Saturday, keep Nowra in mind when Cup weekend rolls around again.

And if your name happens to be Ben, apparently there’s already a walk waiting for you.

 

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THE NOWRA CUP REPORT
14 DECEMBER 2025

Nine days after Mudgee, Kenny pointed the cruiser south.

By the time they reached Nowra, Tommy had already announced that he knew the Shoalhaven well.

Finn looked across from the back seat.

“Been here a lot?”

“Driven through it.”

Kenny laughed.

“That doesn’t count.”

It was Cup day at Nowra and the track had come up a Soft 7.

Eleven horses remained for the 1600 metres, and Kenny was studying one in particular.

NUMBER 6. ROLLING MAGIC.

Five-year-old gelding. Richard and Will Freedman. Shaun Guymer aboard.

Finn leaned over.

“Like him?”

“Maybe.”

Tommy looked at the price.

“Six dollars. That’s practically Finn territory.”

“I’m becoming responsible,” Finn said.

Neither man answered.

When the gates opened, Shaun Guymer let Rolling Magic find his feet.

At the 800 metres he was fifth.

At the 400, fourth.

Close enough.

Kenny could see Guymer beginning to ask him for something.

HE’S GOT HORSE.

Around the bend, Rolling Magic started to build.

Jamberoo was up ahead and wasn’t stopping.

But neither was Rolling Magic.

Guymer balanced him.

Then went.

The five-year-old began eating into the margin.

Tommy was first to his feet.

“Go on!”

Finn joined him.

“Come on, six!”

Rolling Magic gathered Jamberoo in and drove clear.

At the post, the margin was 0.8 lengths.

Rolling Magic had won the Nowra Cup.

Jamberoo held second, with Can’t Recall One coming from the rear of the field to take third.

Richard and Will Freedman had their Cup.

Shaun Guymer had timed it beautifully.

And Rolling Magic had earned his place among the horses eligible for the road towards the Big Dance.

 

ROLLING MAGIC HAD WON THE NOWRA CUP.

Kenny folded the race book.

“Four.”

Tommy looked at him.

“Four what?”

“Cups.”

Finn smiled.

“You’re counting?”

Kenny headed towards the cruiser.

“Someone has to.”

Tommy followed him.

“We’ve got a long way to go, haven’t we?”

Kenny opened the driver’s door.

“You’re only just working that out?”

Finn climbed into the back.

“Where’s next?”

Kenny turned the key.

“Moruya.”