Tralee Rose suffered a nasty gash to her near hind leg when she was galloped on in the Melbourne Cup. She was taken to the Melbourne University veterinary facility at Werribee for treatment and scans after running ninth in the Cup.

"Tralee Rose was battered and bruised following her Melbourne Cup run," Wilde said. "There was no structural damage to her leg. She had a lot of stitches put into leg. Her injuries have healed up great and she's feeling well. We've just spelled her at home. We've got to work out a program going forward for Tralee Rose. The decisions have to be made within the next couple of weeks. We may look at running her in the Andrew Ramsden at Flemington in May, if she could win that she gets a golden ticket into Melbourne Cup or we may wait until later in the year before starting her campaign."

From her 16 starts Tralee Rose has won six races and earnt more then $900,000 in stakemoney.

TERANG Racing Club is looking forward to a successful race meeting this Sunday, according to president Wayne Johnstone.

Seven races are set down for decision with the highlight being the time honoured $30,000 Peter Blank Sprint to be run over 1125 metres. Terang switched from its traditional New Year's date to January 2 last year.

"It was a tough decision to switch from New Year's Day to January 2," Johnstone said. "The club had a lot of history running on New Year's Day but with Woodford hosting its popular meeting at Warrnambool on New Year's Eve, it just made sense for us to go to January 2. We used to have only six races on New Year's Day and each race was worth $15,000, but running the next day we can now have seven races with six of them offering $25,000 each and the Peter Blank Sprint carries prizemoney of $30,000." Terang and Cranbourne are the only professional meetings run in Victoria on Sunday while a picnic race day will be held at Woolamai.

KERANG'S race meeting on Boxing Day turned out to be a profitable one for Warrnambool jockey Melissa Julius. The 30-year-old hoop rode a double. She was successful on Palace Road in a maiden while It's A Sahara won a benchmark 52. Both races were over 1100 metres.

Julius said she left Warrnambool after lunch on Christmas Day before stopping at Bendigo that night. She drove for an hour-and-a-half to Kerang for the race day on Boxing Day.

"The trip was not too bad," she said. "I had a full book of seven rides for the day which resulted in two winners and a third placing. Previously, I would have ridden at Penshurst on Boxing Day but with that meeting transferred to November I made the decision to ride at Kerang. Both my winners travelled well in the run. There both honest performers who are suited to that class of racing."

Julius, who has battled weight problems during her career said she is hoping a new routine will help manage her weight battles.

"I've had weight issues for five years," she said. "I've got a new routine and I'm very careful with what I eat. I drove back to Bendigo on Sunday night after Kerang's meeting to ride trackwork for my brother Josh on Monday morning. I had to be back home in Warrnambool late on Monday to ride trackwork at home on Tuesday morning. I've been getting great support from trainers in Warrnambool."

Julius is hoping to ride at Woodford's meeting at Warrnambool on New Year's Eve before venturing to Burrumbeet for its traditional New Year's Day meeting and then Terang on January 2.

THE maiden win by Dynamic Blue at Nhill on Boxing Day, was a great result for his owners, according to Terang trainer Jamie Barry. Dynamic Blue ridden by Warrnambool based jockey Harry Grace beat Humpback and Northvic in winning the 1650 metre race.

Barry said Dynamic Blue's owners Bob and Jay Grace had been loyal to his stable.

"It's just wonderful to get a win for Bob and Jay," he said. "The funny thing is Harry Grace rode Dynamic Blue. It was a real Grace affair but the jockey is not related to the owners. I thought Dynamic Blue would have won a maiden before Boxing Day. He's been unlucky in a few of his races. We've just been training him out of the paddock and he seems to improved with that sort of training. I'm confident after his racing career is over I'm sure he'll make an eventing horse. Dynamic Blue is just such a lovely nature horse."

Barry is looking forward to a busy few weeks as he expects to have runners at some of the local meetings over the holiday period.

SUNDAY'S Boxing Day meeting at Geelong proved to be a costly one for jockey Kyle Hocking. The young jockey pleaded guilty to two whip infringements in consecutive races which resulted him being suspended for 18 meetings and $600 lighter in the pocket. The first charge related to Hocking's ride on Black Morrison while the second indiscretion was on Changing Tracks. Hocking is suspended from midnight on January 1 to midnight January 19. Changing Tracks won the race. The stewards took into account Hocking's guilty plea and his good riding record before handing down the penalty.