Part 1 - Goulburn Cup 2026
Home for the Week
Early morning view across the Goulburn countryside and town skyline.
There are some places where you don’t really need an invitation.
You just walk through the door.
For Josh, home in Goulburn was still one of those places.
He’d come back for the week to spend a bit of time with Mum and Dad, and within a day it felt as though he’d never been away.
Marge was in the kitchen making scones.
His younger sister Chloe had arrived with her husband Bob and their two little ones, aged three and five, who seemed determined to investigate every corner of Grandma and Grandpa’s house before morning tea.
Bob had found himself a comfortable chair.
Chloe was catching up with her mum.
And Josh was sitting with his dad, John.
Nothing particularly remarkable was happening.
Which was probably why it felt so good.
Josh home in Goulburn with John, Marge, Chloe, Bob and the grandchildren
Home Again
Josh had grown up around Goulburn.
He knew its cold mornings, its old buildings and that unmistakable feeling of being back in a country city where the countryside is never very far away.
But coming home as an adult is different.
You notice things you didn’t notice when you lived there.
You appreciate sitting around a table doing absolutely nothing.
You certainly appreciate your mother’s scones more.
Marge appeared from the kitchen carrying a plate.
“Jam?”
“Yes please.”
“Cream?”
“Definitely.”
Some things didn’t require much discussion.
The two little ones suddenly appeared as well.
Apparently scones didn’t either.
Josh and his father John enjoying coffee together in Goulburn
What Are We Doing Sunday?
Later in the week, Josh and his dad were sitting together again on the tailgate of Johns ute in Goulburn.
They’d talked about family.
They’d talked about what everyone was doing.
They’d solved several of the world’s problems without anybody asking them to.
Then John thought for a moment.
“Hey, let’s go to the Goulburn Cup on Sunday, Josh.”
Josh looked across at him and smiled.
“I’m so glad you asked.”
John looked puzzled.
“When Finn found out I was coming home for the week, he said you should go to the races.”
That was interesting.
There was only one small problem.
​
Neither Josh nor John knew very much about horse racing.
Josh, John and Marge talking about the Goulburn Cup over breakfast
Decision made. Goulburn Cup it was.
The next morning over breakfast, Marge settled it.
“You both like the races, don’t you? Well, off you go. I love seeing you two together again, having a bit of fun.”
John looked across at Josh.
Josh grinned.
And that was that.
Goulburn Cup it was.
They liked it.
They’d watched the big races.
They knew roughly what happened.
Horses went around.
Someone won.
Occasionally somebody they knew claimed they’d backed it.
But studying form, judging horses in a mounting yard or explaining why barrier seven was apparently better than barrier eleven?
Not a chance.
Josh grinned.
“So… we’re going?”
John nodded.
“We’re going.”
And just like that, a quiet week at home had acquired a Sunday afternoon appointment.
The Goulburn Cup.
Two racing rookies.
One father.
One son.
And somewhere, Finn was probably smiling.