Win Provides A ‘Twist’ In 2016 TAB Editors’ Challenge

By Mark Brassel

Trainer of the moment Kris Lees was delighted to receive further welcome news this morning.

Lees prepared Lucia Valentina to an emphatic victory in the $4 million Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Day 2 of The Championships at Royal Randwick.

The Novocastrian had earlier in the afternoon provided the quinella in the $400,000 Provincial Championships Final with Danish Twist [Damien Oliver] and Powerline [Brett Prebble].

Lees was informed that Danish Twist had won a further $5000 cheque for charity, courtesy of the 2016 TAB Provincial Editors’ Challenge, with Friends of Wollongong Botanic Garden the recipient.

“That’s fantastic,” Lees said this morning. “Worthwhile initiatives such as the Editors’ Challenge which support local communities can only be a positive. It’s great that we’ve played a part in this.”



Above: TAB's Glenn Munsie [left] presents the $5000 cheque to Fairfax's Chris Roots [representing Illawarra Mercury]. Image by Steve White

Illawarra Mercury’s editor, Julian O’Brien, nominated the charity: “Our horse was racing for the Friends of Wollongong Botanic Gardens and the $5000 will go towards a project to revitalise parts of the gardens.

“The TAB Editors’ Challenge presents a great opportunity to give back to our community and this is a big win for the gardens.”

The other three charities that missed out in the Provincial Championships Final were not left empty-handed, with TAB generously coming to the party with a $500 donation to each of those charities – Camp Breakway, Mark Hughes Foundation and the Women’s Cottage [Richmond].

Winning jockey Damien Oliver said: “It’s a great concept [Provincial Championships] and I was lucky to have the right horse to give the owners the chance to win this sort of prizemoney. And I’m even more pleased now to find out we’ve won something for charity.”

Check out the newspapers and their charities at - TAB Provincial Editors' Challenge