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Menin Gate: The pride of Birchip

Roar Guru
21st July, 2015
2

The town of Birchip is home to just over 600 people but it is also fast becoming the town of one of the feel good stories in harness racing.

Menin Gate, the superstar trotter named after the war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I, is taking harness racing by storm.

Already claiming the Group 1 Victoria Derby at Melton earlier this year, last weekend Menin Gate claimed another Group 1 victory, this time in the Queensland Derby.

Menin Gate beat another up and comer in My Kiwi Mate who could become a rival throughout the two trotter’s careers.

Possibly the best thing about Menin Gate’s meteoric rise through the ranks is that he appears to be owned by two top knockabout blokes.

After Menin Gate won at Melton two weeks before his Queensland Derby victory his owners, brothers Paul and Danny Lowry, who part own the trotter with a couple of friends, shouted the bar at the local football club in Birchip.

“They drank that after a couple of hours so we just said tell them to keep drinking and we will pay the bill,” Danny told The Courier Mail earlier this year. “I am still not sure what it is.”

This appears to be a regular occurrence when Menin Gate wins and has earned him the nickname the Birchip Bull.

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The brothers are also proud advocates of the Breast Cancer Foundation after one of their close friends Tania Foott died at age 45 from breast cancer. From the win in the Queensland Derby the boys donated five per cent of their winnings to the cause in a great show of respect to Tania.

One of the other sides of this story is the joy and jubilation for Shelbourne trainers Larry and Lynette Eastman. In fact one of the best Kodak moments you will see came after Menin Gate won the Victorian Derby.

Larry Eastman embraces Chris Alford and you can just see by the look on his face how much the win meant to him. Of course it’s very understandable when you consider Eastman perhaps thought his chance to win a big race had passed, when in a 40-year career the trainer managed a handful of seconds in Group 1 races.

This is one of those stories I don’t want to see end and my only hope is that Menin Gate can go on and dominate the sport for years to come.

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