Sport
4 September, 2024
Birdsville’s problems highlight a growing issue in racing industry
Horse numbers are well down at the iconic Outback carnival.
Has Birdsville lost its lustre, or is the iconic bush meeting a victim of other problems facing the racing industry?
The truth is, a number of factors appear to be impacting this year’s two-day carnival, which starts on Friday and features the weakest fields seen in recent times – apart from the time the club moved its 2021 COVID-impacted race meet to April the following year.
This year, just one North West trainer is sending horses down the road and no Mount Isa jockeys will make the trip south.
Even the Central West has poor representation at the meeting. In fact, more horses will come from Darwin than the two nearest racing regions.
North West Weekly spoke to a number of stakeholders about why people might not be heading to Birdsville this year and there were a number of reasons.
Perhaps the most common one was the fact there are fewer people around to look after horses.
It’s one thing to take a swag of horses to Birdsville, but who looks after the horses left behind?
Stables are already stretched for resources and taking the best part of a week off for one meeting can be hard to justify.
The introduction of TAB race meetings in the bush has also been a factor. Once, trainers and owners would target Birdsville because of the prizemoney and the chance to set a horse in the hope of getting a decent collect on the punt.
The North West, for example, has four TAB meetings this year and still has three left, with two at Mount Isa and one at Cloncurry.
Getting jockeys to make the trip to Birdsville and having suitable horses for the style of racing were also proffered as reasons for a lack of nominations.
“Last year the fence was red hot so if you didn’t have a leader or you drew badly you couldn’t win,” said one trainer, who asked not to be named.
“Why would anyone travel that far with such a biased track?
“I’ve sent horses to Birdsville in the past, but I won’t go back after what happened last year.”
Mount Isa bookmaker Graeme Saunders has been fielding at Birdsville for almost 40 years and says that small fields were not uncommon, but had become problematic because the meeting is now televised and has TAB status.
“I’ve been there where they have had a two-horse race in the Open, but it’s bad look when you have the whole world watching,” he said.
“Certainly having these other TAB meetings have made it less attractive for people to travel because it’s a long way for a lot of trainers; we’re used to travelling in the North West but a lot won’t go that far.”
Saunders was one of 14 bookies in the Birdsville ring when he first fielded there in 1985 and has barely missed a year since.
“Once upon a time you’d set a horse for Birdsville because you’d get there and there would be all of these different form lines, so you could get a price if one bookie wanted to take you on,” he said.
“Before computers came in you had to get all of the books and you’d spend weeks doing the form.
“But trainers and owners always thought they could go to Birdsville and get a price.
“It was pure betting; it was the bookmaker versus the punter or the trainer or the owner and they went there to beat the bookie.”
The Saunders family has tasted plenty of success over the years at Birdsville, winning two Cups, but have also had plenty of talented horses get beaten as short-priced favourites.
“We won the Magic Millions in 2015 (with Le Chef) but we also won the Birdsville Cup that year (with Iron Meteorite) and I still tell everybody that we had a lot more fun at Birdsville winning that Cup,” Saunders said.
“People say I’m crazy because of the prizemoney difference but winning a Birdsville Cup is pretty special.”
The Saunders family – Graeme and wife Lenore, and son Andrew – will be at Birdsville again this week hoping for another Cup win.
They will be represented in the $50,000 feature race with Le Force, trained by Jay Morris, who also prepared their previous two Birdsville Cup winners.
Morris will take five horses from his Mount Isa stable and has hopes of returning with a winner or two.
He said Birdsville wasn’t his favourite destination as a trainer, but said he enjoyed the challenge of setting horses for the meeting.
“The main reason I’ve gone over the years is because Graeme and Andrew like sending their horses there,” he said.
“Now, there are some decent prizemoney races in our own backyard so a lot of trainers are happy to stay at home.
“The cost of buying feed and fuel keeps going up so you need to win races to pay for everything.”
Morris agreed that Birdsville had lost some of its magic since it became a TAB meeting.
“We’re a punting stable and you could go to Birdsville and get a price because everyone had different opinions ... now there are TAB days littered throughout the year and you can set your horses for those days,” he said.
Morris said he was unsure how Le Force would go in the 1600m Cup – the horse has struggled over the course of his career to maintain his form and condition, meaning a trip to Birdsville in the heat was a big risk.
“To be fair he’s working his head off at the moment; I couldn’t have him going any better,” the trainer said.
“If he draws well enough he could be a chance.”
Apprentice Chloe Lowe will get the ride on Le Force, who will carry just 55kg.
“It’s not a super strong Cup but he’s got to travel and he’s got to handle it all right,” Morris said.
Birdsville Race Club president David Brook, who won the Cup last year when the Phillip Stokes-trained Neodium led all of the way, acknowledged there was work to do to get big fields back in 2025.
“Some of it is out of our control,” he told North West Weekly.
“People are short-handed; there are a couple of trainers I spoke to – David Rewald from Longreach was one – and he’s got a team of horses but no one at home to look after them if he comes.
“The cost of fuel is another thing that probably hurts us, too.”
Brook admitted that the leader bias at Birdsville was an issue in 2023 but hopes that doesn’t repeat this weekend.
“We’ve done some work on the track and we’ve also had good rain which hopefully settled it down,” he said.
“As a club, we are always looking at ways to get people to come; we offer incentives to trainers and jockeys.”
Birdsville certainly fared better than Betoota Race Club, which had just 24 runners across six races at its annual non-TAB meeting on Saturday.
Just four jockeys were available for the program which was a result of several Central West hoops being unavailable due to injury and suspension, and a lack of entries from trainers to entice them to make the trip to the remote track.
The Cup was won by the Brett Cavanough-trained Fusaichi Family, ridden by Kelsey Lenton.
Following Birdsville, the racing circuit moves to Bedourie for a six-race program on September 14, although North West trainers and jockeys are likely to preference the Cloncurry race day, which is being staged on the same afternoon.