Iconic Birdsville races cancelled
The iconic Birdsville Races have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic - only the second time the race will not run in its 138-year history. But a 2021 date has been announced.
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The coronavirus has claimed another iconic Queensland event, with September’s Birdsville Races officially cancelled.
The famous outback race meeting had been one of the last major events still standing on the Queensland calendar, but organisers on Monday made the decision to scrap this year’s race, which brings thousands of visitors to the tiny town of Birdsville.
Next year’s event has been pencilled in for September 3 and 4.
One of Australia’s great outback events, the Birdsville Races has only been cancelled once in its 138-year history and has even been held without horses when flooding rains made the track unraceable.
Ironically, the only other cancellation was also due to a virus - the equine flu crisis of 2007.
Vice President of the Birdsville Race Club Gary Brook said it was disappointing to call the event off.
“It is with heavy hearts that we have made the difficult decision not to stage the Birdsville Races this year,” he said.
“As much as we were holding onto the hope that we could run them, we’re at a point where we’ve had to concede defeat. The health of our patrons, and those who live in Outback Queensland, is of paramount importance to us - and it is impossible to know what the status with Covid-19 will be come September.”
WINTER GETS MORE FEATURES
The feature race schedule for the winter has been extended into July, with the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich set to host a number of showpiece races.
There has also been two feature races to the Eagle Farm program on July 4, those being the Bright Shadow for fillies and mares and a Listed race for two-year-olds.
A week later, the Sunshine Coast will run the Glasshouse Handicap and the Winx Guineas.
Then, on July 18, Ipswich has the Gai Waterhouse Classic (F&M) and Eye Liner Stakes.
In all, 10 more feature races have been added to the schedule.
The boost to the fillies and mares schedule coincides with the re-positioning of the Magic Millions National Sale, which has switched from May to July.
The fillies and mares features include the Group 3 Sapphire Stakes to be run at Eagle Farm on June 27.
It comes as the plug was officially pulled on two of the state’s iconic racing events, with the Birdsville races and Cairns Picnics shelved due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The Birdsville races have been held since 1882 and the last time they were cancelled was 2007, owing to equine influenza.
Organisers are now planning for a spectacular two-day carnival on September 3 and 4 next year.
Similarly, the committee of the Cairns Amateurs carnival has determined they had no choice but to cancel this year’s event.
In its place, RQ has programmed a provincial meeting to be conducted at Cairns on Friday, September 11.
The 63-year-old Amateurs tradition will be back in action from September 9-11 next year.
“The current border restrictions, economic hardships impacting both people’s disposable income and corporate sponsorships, meant there was just too much riding against a Cairns Amateurs carnival in 2020,” committee president Ross Moller said.
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