Sport
5 June, 2024
'We could have raced': rain costs Cloncurry its race day
The race club president explains why the meeting was transferred.
Cloncurry & District Race Club president Luke Daniels has thanked his Mount Isa counterpart for saving a North West race meeting after rain forced the cancellation of Saturday’s scheduled race day.
Rain on Friday night meant there was no chance of racing at Schumacher Park on Saturday, forcing the Cloncurry club to shift proceedings to Sunday, albeit closed off to the public.
However when participants arrived on Sunday morning, it was deemed to risky to try and stage a race meeting.
“I’ve got no doubt we could have raced on it because the sun came out and the wind picked up,” Daniels told North West Weekly on Monday morning.
“It was blowing dust by 1.30 in the afternoon.”
However, with $56,000 in prizemoney up for grabs and a Battle of the Bush qualifier on the program, the decision was made to shift the meeting to Mount Isa to ensure participants wouldn’t miss out.
“We wanted to go ahead because a lot of the trainers had come from places like Julia Creek, Richmond and Barcaldine,” Daniels said.
“By going to Mount Isa it’s added almost 280km to their journey.
“We were trying to save them a bit of travel but there were all these balls in the air and we’re trying to meet both community and stakeholder expectations.”
Daniels said he had no issue with the meeting being moved.
“At the end of the day the meeting was held and I’d like to thank (president) Jay Morris and the Mount Isa Race Club for acting promptly to put on the meeting,” he said.
“I know the Cloncurry folk were disappointed and we could have run a phantom meeting on the Saturday, but it would have likely cost the club money.
“As locals would know, it’s the busiest time of the year for the agricultural industry out here so there are a lot of people involved in the club with their hands full at the moment.”