Saturday, March 30, 2024

Camooweal Jockey Club left reeling – Future in doubt

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Has the last thoroughbred race been run and won at Camooweal? The president of the race club thinks so.

“In all honesty, I don’t think we will ever race again,” said Lloyd Hick, who has led the Camooweal Jockey Club for several years.

Camooweal had successfully raced for 132 years until last year when it was deemed by Racing Queensland that the track was no longer fit for racing.

The longest-running Outback club was told that stones on the dirt surface posed a danger to horses and riders.

But after throwing more than $200,000 at the problem this year, the state body somehow made the track even worse.

“Racing Queensland gave us a grant and they supplied a contractor to do the work,” Mr Hick said.

“The end result was … not good. They brought in a machine that was supposed to push the stones down but it didn’t.

“It just stirred up the top four inches and brought more stones to the surface than ever before.”

Mr Hick said the track could be fixed, but likely at a cost too great for a club that races once a year.

“I wouldn’t like to take on the job without a million dollars in my pocket,” he said.

Is the chapter closed on club’s 133-year history?

Mr Hick said contractors attempted to use a stone picker on the track after the botched job, but it was unsuccessful.

“It didn’t do a good enough job,” he said.

“All of the work was done by Racing Queensland and their contractors. They oversaw the project.”

Stones are now the least of the club’s concerns.

Because work was done on the track much earlier than usual this year, the surface has been exposed to the sun, resulting in cracking.

A Mount Isa jockey travelled to Camooweal to inspect the track last week and he said there were now large holes in the surface.

“They’ve taken off the top soil and the sun has baked the track and there are some huge cracks there now,” he told North West Weekly.

“A couple of the cracks were very deep. I don’t think you could race there again.”

Mr Hick said the only way to save Camooweal Jockey Club’s annual meeting would be to spend a lot of money.

“We can’t relocate the track somewhere else – that would be too hard,” he said.

“The only option we have would be to bring in soil and give it a 100mm top dress.

“But that would be a phenomenal cost for a club that only races once a year.

“The stones would come up eventually and there would be ongoing costs.”

A sad day

Camooweal held its first race meeting on October 4, 1889 and has raced annually since.

“The two World Wars didn’t stop it – the races kept going,” Mr Hick said.

“A meeting was cancelled once due to track conditions five or six years ago and we lost a meeting when the horse flu was around but that’s about it. It is really sad that we’ve been racing for 130 years and it now appears to be over.”

The president said that having stones on the track was no longer acceptable.

“Times change and I’m a little bit torn between being really annoyed and just accepting that I know all about workplace health and safety,” Mr Hick said.

“As a club president, the last thing I want is a horse or jockey to get hurt.

“Safety has to be the number one priority.”

More clubs to go?

Racing Queensland could have a crisis on its hands, with many other bush clubs under threat of losing their annual meetings due to a lack of funding for infrastructure, especially for track upgrades.

A massive amount of meetings have been lost in 2022, many of them to small amounts of rain close to race day, with the drainage not up to scratch at a lot of non-TAB venues.

Other clubs that race once a year in the North West include McKinlay, Maxwelton, Corfield, Stamford, Boulia, and Gregory.
Mr Hick said losing iconic bush meetings would devastate Queensland communities.

“These race meetings are the lifeblood of small towns. For those working on stations it’s an important social outing,” he said.

“If the date is there on the calendar they’ll mark it down and make sure they take the day off and enjoy themselves.

“It’s extremely important for mental health to have time off and check up on each other. In the bush, that’s what these race meetings are great for.

“You’ll see people once a year at the races.”

Body responds

It took seven days for Racing Queensland to respond to questions regarding Camooweal.

The racing body said it hadn’t given up on the club.

“In January, the club was awarded $215,000 through the Country Racing Program, including an upgrade to the course proper which was completed in August 2022,” an RQ spokesperson said.

“However, due to the terrain of the area and the natural profile of the track, rocks in and around the surface remains a persistent safety issue for both jockeys and horses.

“RQ remains committed to working with the club to ensure the surface meets minimum safety standards.

“A rock burier machine was placed over the track twice in July, along with a rock picker machine that will remain in operation at the club over the course of the next month – removing rocks to a depth of 100mm.

“At that time, RQ and the club will assess the state of the track and devise an appropriate course of action.

“A new inside running rail has been installed, while an upgraded set of starting barriers are expected to be delivered shortly.”

Mr Hick said the running rail had 100 metres left to be complete when the races were called off last week. “It’s such a shame,” he said.

Show goes on

While the race meeting has been transferred to Mount Isa this Saturday, Mr Hick said the club would still host activities in Camooweal.

“It’s always been more about the social side of things for the community,” he said.

“We’ll have goldfish races and everything we normally do will still be going ahead.

“There’s a live band as well.” Mr Hick said the club would now look at alternative options for 2023 and beyond.

“We might bring sprint races to the track like they do at Sedan Dip and Richmond,” he said.

“Camels are also a possibility. “There’s a process to go through with Racing Queensland as they own the infrastructure and it’s not as easy as just running something else on the track instead of thoroughbreds.”

NorthWest Weekly 25 August 2022

This article appeared in North West Weekly, 25 August 2022.

Related story: Racing Queensland CEO keen to grow industry in North West.

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