‘Electric’ day at the Cup

By Brad Kingsbury
PAKENHAM Cup day is the first event marked on the calendar at local electrical suppliers Middy’s each year and that’s just fine by the bosses.
Middy’s is lining up for its sixth year as a sponsor and marquee host at Pakenham’s showcase race day, with 100 guests expected to enjoy the colour, atmosphere and hospitality of the day in 2010.
The initial organiser of the Middy’s marquee was former star Nar Nar Goon ruckman Nick Collins, who works for the organisation, but that task has now been taken over by sales representative Ben Scanlon, who is coincidentally also a current player with the Goon.
“Middy’s is happy to support it every year and we do the Christmas race day every year too,” Ben said.
“They’re probably our biggest days.”
Ben said that the Pakenham Cup was always a good day out and he was in charge of running a Punters club for the marquee and there was also a prize for the best dressed with everyone encouraged to bring their partners along and ‘frock up’.
“We have a good mix every year and we try to mix it up,” he said.
“We try to get our main clients and account customers in and we make sure it’s always a good day out.
“There’s always a few in the group that like to have a bit of a crack on the punt too.”
Ben loves organising the day and his interest in racing recently took a more serious twist when he bought a share in a two-year-old gelding to be trained by Cranbourne mentor Greg Cameron.
“I got into it through a ‘sparky’ from Bunyip Electrics, Shane Smith, who already has a couple of horses with Greg,” he said.
“He just mentioned it to me and I already knew Greg because he came to our Christmas race day last year.”
It is Ben’s first dabble in actually racing a horse and, if things work out well, in 12 months’ time he may have a lot more interest in at least one of the races on the Pakenham Cup program.