Kangaroo Island Racing Club stages first meet of year, prepares to host next month’s KI Cup as locals rebuild from bushfires
One race had just three horses. But Kangaroo Island Racing Club’s first meet of the year helped put smiles on the faces of locals. The Advertiser was there as some “normality resumed”.
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Kangaroo Island Racing Club has been a safe haven for people to escape the fires and a temporary base for army personnel over the past month.
On Saturday, it was a racetrack again, as about 300 locals came out to Kingscote for the island’s first meet of the year – a lead-in to next month’s KI Cup.
Just three weeks ago, club officials had considered calling off the non-TAB event because the blaze continued to roar, people continued to fight it and properties were being destroyed.
The meet went ahead with six races and punters, some of whom came from as far as England and Cairns, told The Advertiser they were thankful it did.
They said the community needed it as a symbol for normality resuming and to take people’s minds off what they had seen, lost or continued to deal with.
Racing club chairman Mark Turner agreed, saying his committee made the right decision to press on with the day.
“We’ve got to get ourselves back on the map and get ourselves working again,” Turner said.
“We were about a week behind in preparation but through the committee and everybody working their butts off, this is what we’ve got today – it’s not 100 per cent, but it’s working well.
“We couldn’t make the final decision because the fires were roaring out of control and people were losing their homes, and if that was happening still we wouldn’t be here.
“This brings back some normality and that’s what we’ve got to do – get everybody back to normality, back to having a beer and a laugh and a smile.”
The first signpost for routine returning came at 12.45pm when horses jumped out the gates for race one, in what might have been the island’s first taste of organised sport in 2020.
Fittingly, the event was won by the jockey wearing red bushfire appeal silks, Michael Vassallo.
Each race had a rider donning them and if they finished first, Thoroughbred Racing SA would donate $500 to the SA Bushfire Appeals Fund.
Vassallo, who was on five-year-old gelding Beermint, was racing for the first time in seven years and back at the track he had won two KI Cups – in 1998 on Final Statement and 2000 on Paid Reply.
“This (meet) is very important with the bushfires that we’ve had,” Vassallo said.
“You’ve got to lift people’s spirits and give them something else to think about and make some more money for people.
“We’ve all got to chip in.
“I didn’t want to leave today without a winner.”
Also returning to the track on Saturday was Charmaine Jones, who had evacuated there with her husband, Brian, daughter, Nikki and six horses, as fires blazed through their property 20km outside Kingscote, killing 400 sheep and burning through fences, a shed and land.
They had slept in swags next to the racetrack alongside their sheepdogs Jimmy, Blue and Zoe, Shih tzu/Maltese cross Tiny and papillon Whizz.
“We had embers coming through with the wind and it was blowing ash all over us,” Jones said.
“If we had our horses at the property, they would’ve been burnt.
“It was a big relief off my shoulders to save my horses and that’s thanks to the Kangaroo Island Racing Club committee for having us here.”
Saturday was a case of all hands on deck at the racing club, even though it was the minor meet.
Leonie Florance was among a dozen KI Healthcare Auxiliary volunteers who oversaw an indoor stall that sold everything from fish and chips to homemade cakes, sandwiches and condiments.
Usually, their profits go to the Kingscote Hospital, where they have helped to upgrade a morgue from two to eight beds and refurnish flooring.
But on Saturday all money raised went to the bushfire fund.
“This (meet) has been a real godsend,” Florance said.
“The island’s mood has been very sombre and the loss has been horrific – and the whole island has felt the loss.
“Today I’m seeing a lift in feelings in people who have been coming through.”
In December, Florance’s daughter, Lorraine, lost a third of her property.
Flames came within about 100m of Lorraine’s house but they managed to save it and her horses.
Florance herself had to evacuate during the fires, taking a caravan to Kingscote at 3am “but fortunately it didn’t get anywhere near us”.
“We’re not broken, we will fight back,” Florance said.
“And we need people to please, please come back to the island.”
One person who has been coming back to the KI races for years is London’s Brian Kauppila.
He was there again on Saturday on his annual three-month holiday to visit his son, Luke.
“I come to the races every time,” Kauppila said.
“I think it’s great they carried on with it.”
Among the first-timers to KI were Cairns couple John and Dawn McElhinney.
Travelling around Australia for three months in a Toyota Camry and sleeping in a tent, the McElhinneys initially booked a four-day island holiday, but wondered whether to cancel their trip because of the fires.
Instead, after reading media coverage encouraging people to visit KI, they extended their stay.
“It’s very important for people to come to these towns that have been affected by fires – it’s the same in Queensland with the cyclones,” John said.
“We’re loving it over here.”
For jockey Karl Zechner, Saturday featured his first races in Australia after moving to Adelaide from South Africa two weeks ago for a better life.
“I’ve read the articles about the bushfires and it’s nice that we can have a meeting and support the people of Kangaroo Island,” Zechner said.
“It’s quite important.
“We can help get things back on the road.”
Racing club officials are hoping the February 22 event attracts more than 3000 people and jockeys and trainers from across Australia.
If they get their target of 80 to 100 horses, it will mean maximum fields.
On Saturday, the last race featured just three horses – and was won by Vassallo on Tomb Raider.
He said he had never been involved in a race with so few competitors, but he believed having it showed how keen the club was to try to get things back on track.
“They were holding that race up when they don’t have to,” he said.
“I want to thank the club for having a crack.”
Originally published as Kangaroo Island Racing Club stages first meet of year, prepares to host next month’s KI Cup as locals rebuild from bushfires
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