You could hear the groans go through Cranbourne a couple of years ago when the club’s Cup was moved to the week after the Hunter Cup.

Most feared it would be a disaster.

A proud country cup with an Honour Roll boasting names like Paleface Adios, Gammalite, Koala King, Golden Reign, Master Musician, Quite Famous, Riverlea Jack, Tailamade Lombo Im Themightyquinn and Mr Feelgood could drift into obscurity.

Truth be known, it already had.

With respect to winners between 2016 and 2022, they weren’t greats of the sport. Nice horses, but no rock stars.

With the switch to the new timeslot, there was no Cranbourne Cup in 2023 as it moved to the second Saturday of February.

Hard-working club manager Cam Gallagher was up for the challenge.

He set his sights on getting a marquee act for last year’s first running of his beloved Cup in its new timeslot.

And he nailed it.

Numerous calls to Leap To Fame’s owner Kevin Seymour and trainer-driver Grant Dixon, making them aware of the $100,000 purse and upside of the race’s new timeslot, paid dividends.

The Cranbourne Cup had another megastar on its Honour Roll after “Larry” rolled into town and did his thing, just seven days after he’d won the Hunter Cup.

“We hadn’t really thought about Cranbourne when we were making his Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile plans, but it made total sense when Cam rang,” Seymour said.

“It turned out to be perfect, the Hunter Cup into Cranbourne, a week off, then Newcastle Mile into the Miracle Mile.”

Dixon agreed, hence he and wife, Trista, will replicate the plan this year.

“It just worked so well,” he said. “The one thing we changed this year was bringing him down to Melbourne to race the week before the Hunter Cup instead of having that last run at Albion Park last year.

“It (Cranbourne) will be his fourth race in as many weeks, but he did it last year and thrived on it.

“That’s one of his greatest strengths, the racing doesn’t seem to take anything out of him.

“If you go back to that Brisbane Inter Dominion, he had the four runs in two weeks and came through raring to go again the next week.”

Gallagher’s successful efforts to lure Leap To Fame to last year’s Cup were a two-fold coup.

Not only did he give the locals something special that night, but he literally put the Cranbourne Cup back on the map.

“There’s no doubt everyone knows about the race and when it’s on now and that’s largely because of Leap To Fame running last year,” Gallagher said.

Leap To Fame returning is one great thing, but Saturday night’s race has all the makings of one of the best Cranbourne Cup fields we’ve seen.

So many of the stars from the Hunter Cup will likely back-up.

Kiwi pair Tact McLeod and Don’t Stop Dreaming will run, both trying to become the first NZ-trained winner since Dexter Dunn drove Bettors Strike for Cran Dalgety in 2009.

The local will have their own “champ” to cheer for, old marvel Bulletproof Boy, who returns for his fourth crack at the race after an untimely “hiccup” forced him out of the Hunter Cup.

For so long the Ballarat Cup has been in a league of its own as Victoria’s marquee country cup, but that tide has turned.

Cranbourne now well and truly holds that mantle as we will all get to see and enjoy on Saturday night.

Timing is everything, even if you don’t know it at the time.