154 nominations have been received for the 144th Birdsville Races as long-distance trainers, country punters and a generous syndicate prepare for Outback Queensland’s biggest, and most remote, race meeting.
With dry conditions in Birdsville, the dust is set to fly at the remote desert racetrack with punters already hitting the road and a strong field shaping up for the 2026 Birdsville Races.
The 154 nominations include 62 for the opening day, including the Akubra Cup, and 92 for Day Two, headlined by the $70,000 TAB Birdsville Cup.
Acceptances and the final fields will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday September 1.
The strong nominations come after organisers feared the combination of softer Outback travel and higher fuel costs could put a dent in this year’s numbers.
Instead, the Birdsville Races have attracted a strong contingent of trainers from across Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory, helped by a record $350,000 prize pool and increased trainer rebates.
“We thought we may have been in for a tougher year with Outback travel down across the country and fuel prices biting,” Birdsville Races Club Vice President Gary Brook said.
“But an extra $20,000 in prize money to take us to a record $350,000 this year, and a 50 per cent increase in rebates for trainers has really helped our cause and we’re very happy with the nominations we have.
“It’s a strong field and we appreciate the ongoing support from trainers like the Manzelmann’s from Mackay, Phillip Cole from Darwin and Kim Healy from the Adelaide Hills who all travel long distances to be with us and are return contenders across many years, along with Outback Queensland trainers like Bevan Johnson and Clinton Austin.
“With road closures from SA this year Kym has added an extra 1000-plus kilometres to each leg of his trip in the hope his two Cup contenders will deliver his first ever Cup win. It’s stalwart trainers like these who are the lifeblood of what we do.”
Among the leading hopes for the TAB Birdsville Cup is Testator Silens, owned by a syndicate of proud Queenslanders including long-standing Birdsville Races bookmaker Gary Peoples, Diamantina Mayor Francis Murray and State of Origin great Chris ‘Choppy’ Close.
The horse is expected to attract top weight when the final weights are released.
But few horses will have a bigger cheer squad on the red dirt than Green Shadows, a chestnut gelding trained by Toni Schofield.
Schofield, the leading trainer at the 2025 Birdsville Races, is returning with twelve horses this year after a cracking year in 2025 with seven horses.
Green Shadows has also picked up an unlikely band of owners – 46 punters travelling to Birdsville on a sold-out bus trip organised by Dubbo-based comedian Wiradjuri Rabbs.
Rabbs put the call out on social media in May asking whether anyone wanted to join him on the ultimate road trip to Birdsville, combining a bucket-list adventure with much-needed tourism support for Outback communities.
The response was so strong the first bus sold out within days, and a second sold-out bus was added.
Now the group of 46 is preparing to make the journey from Sydney, with regional pick-ups along the way, with Closure Group Civil sponsoring the trip.
Rather than pocket a discount on their travel costs with the sponsorship, the group will instead donate $5,000 to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a partner of the Birdsville Races when they’re at the event,
The generous group has been offered a 10 per cent share in Green Shadows for the TAB Birdsville Cup Day.
“We couldn’t believe our luck with the offer for a share in Green Shadows that came from Luke Berger and Danny Bourke who are well known Outback racing syndicators,” Rabbs said.
“We were already through the roof with excitement about this trip, but this has just blown the lid off.
“The generosity of giving us a stake in a horse that’s a leading favourite in the TAB Birdsville Cup is extraordinary – and we’re going to play that forward by donating any winnings we might share into Motor Neuron research if Green Shadows takes out the Cup.”
The 46 punters voted to donate their winnings to the Motor Neuron Foundation before Rabbs relayed the news to Berger.
The decision carried an especially powerful meaning for Berger, who lost his lifetime mentor and father figure, professional rugby league player Gary Longhurst, to Motor Neuron Disease.
“It all felt like it was all meant to be,” Rabbs said.
The unusual ownership group is expected to bring one of the biggest cheer squads ever seen at Birdsville, with the punters already counting down to seeing their horse thunder down the famous dusty straight.
Veteran race caller Josh Fleming will be behind the microphone once again, having first called the Birdsville Races when he was just 14.
Now 42, Fleming has spent more than two decades calling horses around the remote track and says this year’s nominations could produce one of the most competitive Cup fields he has seen.
“This year’s field is as strong as any I’ve seen across the 20-plus years I’ve been calling these races. There’s nine or 10 horses nominated for the TAB Birdsville Cup who could take it out,” said Fleming.
“Green Shadows will no doubt be a crowd favourite with a big team on the ground cheering him on, and he’s got the form to back that up.”
Fleming said Green Shadows’ recent run at Aramac, where he finished a close second, showed the horse had already adapted to Outback conditions, while his Sydney form was also strong.
He also singled out Hello World and Grinzinger Bishop for Healy, Liberty Steps, Little Cointreau, Our Missile, the Manzelmann runners, Testator Silens, Scorched Land and Acedrod among a deep group of contenders.
“I could name nearly the whole field and couldn’t make a top pick just yet,” Fleming said.
“It’s going to be a very even race with great depth – and likewise for the Akubra Big Red Cup. There’s something special about calling those horses down the dusty track and being so close to the crowd cheering them on,” added Fleming.
Brook said the strong nominations were welcome news for an event that has become a major economic driver for Outback Queensland.
“We have a strong field and great numbers, so for the punters joining us it’s going to be a great two days of racing,” he said.
“As the biggest event being staged in Outback Queensland this year we’ll bring much-needed tourism dollars to all the towns along the route to the races.”
The journey to Birdsville has also been made a little easier for thousands of road-tripping racegoers, with IOR providing Birdsville Races Roadies ticket holders with a 14 cents-per-litre discount on diesel at IOR stops nationwide.
“That is a huge help with all the kilometres travelled to Birdsville,” Brook said.
With horses and trainers being locked in for the final stages of preparation, the race for the prestigious TAB Birdsville Cup is set to be hotly contested when the event kicks off latter this week.
General admission tickets for the 2026 Birdsville Races are still available via www.birdsvilleraces.com
