Gold Cup 1984 (The 'Million Thing')
The "million thing" was in the press the name of the highest endowed trotting race that was ever held on the Gelsenkirchen trotting track .
prehistory
After 500,000 DM had already gone up a month earlier in the St. 47 entries presented the organizer with a problem, so that in addition to the main event, two relief races were included in the supporting program. 25 participants had to evade and went in two departments to the West German Youth Prize, each endowed with 63,000 DM.
The mega-event was carried out on October 14, 1984. In the first relief race, 12 horses started. The mare Holsatia won the tote of 24:10, trained and driven by Willi Rode. Second place went to Horst Bandemer with the mare Hehre , the third money went to Ceruantes with Willi Roth in the Sulky. The winner's kilometer time was 1 minute. 20.3 sec.
In the second relief race, 13 horses started. Quiberon won in a kilometer time of 1 minute. 20.5 seconds, trained and steered by Willi Roth. Fallon Rouge and Dieter Oppoli were the second horse to cross the finish line four lengths apart. The third horse was Oriente . The winning goal paid for Quiberon 52:10.
Both relief races had the same distribution of values with 24,000 DM for the winner and 12,000 - 7,000 - 6,000 - 5,000 - 4,000 - 3,000 and 2,000 DM for the following placements. The race distance was 1,609 meters.
Race course
After a non-starter nomination, 21 horses started in the main event. The favorite was the multiple breeding race winner and therefore the best of the year, Diamond Way , who carried program number 19 by drawing lots and therefore had to start from the second row. Despite this handicap, Diamond Way started the race under Champion Heinz Wewering with a tote of 32:10. The race of the races started at 16:42.
Horst Bandemer distinguished himself through particular fairness, who during the course of the race pulled Kambio, who was galloping in front, onto the inner lawn boundary without hesitation in order to clear the way for the pursuers. In the home straight, the large field was spread across the width of the entire track. The race from outside the lane took its toll on the favorite. Rolf Dautzenberg drove the mare Ivona Girl in a kilometer time of 1 minute. 20.2 sec. as a 272: 10 outsider as the first horse to cross the finish line. The favorite Diamond Way reached the line a long way ahead of Doxy Speed and Indian Girl .
Champion Heinz Wewering could comfort himself with the fact that he was the trainer of the two best two-year-olds of this year and thus brought in three quarters of a million marks from the 'million thing' for his owners.
The distribution of values in the 'million thing' was set at 500,000 - 250,000 - 120,000 - 80,000 - 50,000 DM. The race distance was also one mile here. All races were started by auto start.
Follow-up
Gelsentrab President Friedrich Sickendiek presented the gold cup and thus 500,000 DM in prize money to Frederik Maarsen, whose father had already founded the Amsterdam stable. Ivona Girl never won a race after that.
With around 177,000 DM, a considerable sum flowed through the betting box in the 'million thing'. The number combination 12 - 19 - 6 paid an impressive DM 33,704 for a stake of 10 marks in the three-way bet.
After the 'million thing' the endowments decreased on average. A budget of one million Deutschmarks was never reached again. On September 23, 2012, the Grand Prix de'l Uet (European Derby for four-year-olds) in Gelsenkirchen was trotted again for € 400,000.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Traben '84 . GR-Turfsport-service GmbH, Gelsenkirchen 1984, p. 153 ff .