Fun, frivolity, the Outback spirit … and a female jockey and trainer … were the big winners as the rain-delayed Birdsville Races galloped into action today.
The two-day meeting was cut back to one day and delayed until today after a deluge left the track waterlogged and grey nomads and other campers frolicking in the mud.
Bobcats were working on the track right up until an hour the horses went under starter’s orders and history was made. The Birdsville Cup itself was won by Darwin-based jockey Kayla Cross on the Heather Lehmann-trained More Alpha … the first all-female win in 134 years.
But, as always and perhaps more than ever, the Birdsville Races was about more than a horse race or two. It was about Outback spirit and a never-say-die attitude.
Birdsville’s population is listed as 115 but swells to more than 7,000 over the popular race weekend. Yesterday, when racing was postponed, some 1500 racegoers also enjoyed a phantom meeting at the track, complete with betting and fashion stakes.
Birdsville Race Club president Gary Brook said some hardy spectators had to leave their cars a kilometre away because the car park was still underwater.
News.com.au reports that people adopted their inner child and had mud fights, built mud snow men and there was even fishing to be had on the side of the road in some of the larger puddles.
