Final acceptances for this week’s Birdsville Races are in, with the ‘Melbourne Cup of the Outback’ set to field a stellar 154 entries across a bumper 13-race program this September 6 & 7.
The 137th edition of Western Queensland’s richest race meet will draw a total of 26 trainers and 22 jockeys – from places as far afield as Strathalbyn (SA).Sunshine Coast (QLD), Nyngan (NSW) and Darwin (NT).
Queensland country trainer and 2018 Birdsville Cup winner Bevan Johnson (Toowoomba, QLD) leads the stable contingent, with 31 race acceptances.
Johnson will field starters across the carnival’s entire 13 race card, with three horses in contention for the headline 1600m TAB Birdsville Cup – which, this year, offers a record-equaling $40,000 prize-purse.
Johnson is followed by Barcaldine (QLD) trainer Todd Austin with 12 acceptances, and Blackall (QLD) trainer-jockey David Rewald with 11 acceptances.
Austin has attended more than 30 Birdsville Races as both a jockey and a trainer since he was a young boy. He won the Birdsville Cup in 2013 with Primed and is hoping for another Cup victory this year with apprentice jockey Clayton Gallagher and veteran thoroughbred French Hussler.
Other headline trainers include former Birdsville Cup winners Rodney Robb (Nyngan, NSW) and Craig Smith (Roma, QLD) with 10 acceptances each, as well as 2011 Birdsville Cup winner Jay Morris (Mount Isa, QLD) who notches 4 acceptances.
Well-known Group 1 trainer David Jolly (Goolwa, SA) will also field a starter in the Birdsville Cup for the first time in his career, with five year-old gelding Fulton Street and jockey Terry Treichel.
Jolly’s stables are located on the undulating coastline and rolling sands of Goolwa in South Australia – a training ground that has primed Fulton Street to gallop on the red desert sands of Birdsville’s race track.
Geographically, the trainer line-up for 2019 is dominated by Mount Isa (QLD), with six local trainers fielding horses across 13 races, followed by Toowoomba (QLD with three trainers, and Charleville (QLD) and Darwin (NT) with two trainers each.
The jockey line-up includes five-time Queensland Country’s Premier Jockey, Dan Ballard (Mount Isa, QLD), who has ridden in eight previous Birdsville Races.
In taking out the Queensland country jockey title again in 2019, Ballard notched 56 wins from 144 starts, equating to a 39% victory rate.
Dan is joined in the jockey roster by his father, Keith Ballard (Mount Isa, QLD) who, at the age of 66, is Australia’s oldest competing jockey.
Keith will compete twice against Dan at this year’s Birdsville Races, in the RFDS QTIS Maiden Plate (1200 Metres) and the TAB Class 5 Handicap (1200 metres).
Keith, who tackled his first horse race as a 16 year-old some 50 years ago, has ridden previously in the Birdsville Races 15 times – the last occasion being in 2017.
Another confirmed jockey with close family ties to the Birdsville Races is Dakota Johnson, daughter of trainer Bevan Johnson.
The Johnsons have been fielding horses at the Birdsville Races since 2010, but 2018 marked their first Birdsville Cup win when 17 year-old apprentice jockey Adin Thompson narrowly rode to victory on Blue Jest.
The win was a fortuitous one for Thompson. Prior to the 2018 Birdsville Races, Dakota had ridden to many victories upon Blue Jest, but fell pregnant earlier that year, which gave Thompson the opportunity to ride and ultimately take out last year’s Cup.
Dakota leads an exciting charge of female jockey and trainer talent at this year’s Birdsville Races.
Trainers Denise Ballard (Mount Isa, QLD) and Tanya Parry (Julia Creek, QLD) both have horses in the line-up, while Tamworth (NSW) apprentice jockeyWendy ‘Banana’ Peel is set to saddle up in six races, including the Birdsville Cup.
Earlier this year, Peel became the first female jockey in ten years to win the renowned Louth Cup when she rode Austin to a historic 10-length win.
Other female jockeys in the mix include Rhiannon Payne (Eagle Farm, QLD), Cecily Eaton (Brisbane, QLD) and Minonette Kennedy.
The Birdsville Races will be a fully funded country TAB meet for the first time in 2019, offering up a record overall prize-purse of $233,500 – an increase of 14 per cent from the carnival’s total prize-money in 2018.
This year, for the first time, prize-money will also be awarded to top-10 finishers across all the meet’s 13 races.
Punters across Australia will be able to experience all action from the Birdsville Races from the comfort of their own homes, thanks to a renewed national telecast deal between the Races and Sky Racing. The partnership will see the full 13-race line-up televised into homes nationally via Sky Racing.
With just a few days to go until the 2019 Birdsville Races, event organisers are preparing to welcome an influx of close to 7,000 visitors for a bumper weekend program of thoroughbred horseracing, and unique Outback entertainment and activities.
The Birdsville Races are supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar, worth $800m to the state’s economy in 2019.
To view full acceptances for this year’s Birdsville Races, click on the links below:
Friday acceptances, September 6:
https://racingaustralia.horse/FreeFields/Form.aspx?Key=2019Sep06%2CQLD%2CBirdsville
Saturday acceptances, September 7:
https://racingaustralia.horse/FreeFields/Acceptances.aspx?Key=2019Sep07%2CQLD%2CBirdsville
TRAINERS – ACCEPTANCES
Trainer |
Acceptances |
Current Residence |
Bevan Johnson |
31 |
Toowoomba, QLD |
Todd Austin |
12 |
Barcaldine, QLD |
David Rewald |
11 |
Blackall, QLD |
Rodney Robb |
10 |
Nyngan, NSW |
Craig Smith |
10 |
Roma, QLD |
Matt Kropp |
7 |
Toowoomba, QLD |
Ben Williams |
6 |
Charters Towers, QLD |
Henry Forster |
6 |
Ilfracombe, QLD |
Robert Burow |
6 |
Mt. Isa, QLD |
Jason Babarovich |
6 |
Mt. Isa, QLD |
George Tipping |
6 |
Mt. Isa, QLD |
Leon Murray |
5 |
Quorn, SA |
Bryan T Dixon |
5 |
Tambo, QLD |
Denise Ballard |
4 |
Mt. Isa, QLD |
Jay Morris |
4 |
Mt. Isa, QLD |
Steven Royes |
4 |
Mt. Isa, QLD |
Kym Healy |
4 |
Strathalbyn, SA |
Leslie Baker |
3 |
Charleville, QLD |
Darrel Dolgner |
3 |
Jundah, QLD |
John Ferguson |
3 |
Toowoomba, QLD |
Gary Clarke |
2 |
Darwin, NT |
Pat Richardson |
2 |
Sunshine Coast, QLD |
William Pugsley |
1 |
Charleville, QLD |
Philip Cole |
1 |
Darwin, NT |
David Jolly |
1 |
Goolwa, SA |
Tanya Parry |
1 |
Julia Creek, QLD |