Photos: 2022 Phillip Hughes Memorial Race Day at Bowraville
The women got their stunning on and the blokes tried their best as the punters gathered for a community race meeting in honour of cricket legend Phillip Hughes. See all the photos.
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The late and great Test cricket star Phillip Hughes - a Macksville boy through and through - would have looked down on today’s shenanigans at Bowraville with a chuckle and an appreciative glint.
Taken too soon and tragically, Hughes was a regular attendee of the Boxing Day races hosted by the hard working volunteers at the Nambucca River Jockey Club.
The meeting is now held in his honour - but in 2022 it was moved from Boxing Day to avoid a clash with other regional engagements.
So December 28 it was, and that didn’t dampen the spirits or the numbers pushing through the gates.
The gatho is known as a ‘mates’ day’ - when people who’ve left the Nambucca Valley for work or study come home for the Christmas break and catch-up with friends and gossip.
Hughes, when serious cricket permitted, was a regular at the throng - keen for a beer and to chat all things cattle.
Today would have pleased the legend - as the sun bore down in Bowra ways, and the grassed grounds were punctuated with portable shade marquees and those chasing lucky coin.
As is the way, some groups came dressed in matching shirts.
The young fillies beamed in the short-lived glow of youth, and the lads tried their best - a good many in the now fashionable Crocs footwear.
On track, the horses did their thing - perhaps realising they were almost an add-on to the main event.
For the record, it was a six-race, Sky 2 TAB meeting, with the major race being the Phillip Hughes Memorial Flying.
The on-course bookies were eager, and the self-proclaimed experts were less than coy in imparting their advice.
Above all, fun in the sun with mates after the Covid rude awakening of years’ past was the name of the game.
Enjoy the gallery.
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