Scorching weather on Saturday, February 5 failed to deter a large crowd, coming from all over the region to attend the 2011 Bingara Races.
While weather conditions stayed at an above average heat, president of the Bingara Jockey Club, Sinclair Munro agreed that there was still a very large crowd. “I was very pleased with the local crowd supporting the day,” he said, “especially the amount of young people that were there.
‘Silver Street’ was the winning horse of the Austbrokers RWA Bingara Cup followed by ‘Kid Paleface’ and ‘Eclair Magique’.
“The crowd was larger than last year and the gate takings averaged out around the same as last year because of the large number of people aged under under 18 attending,” said Mr. Munro.
While gates opened at 11am the actual race schedule began at 2pm with Jamie Wilson officially opening the day with the National Anthem.
Campbell’s Fuel Supply sponsored the first race of the day which saw ‘Rhens’ ridden by Michael Squires, and trained by Mark Mason win the race.
The Bingara Pharmacy and Booroomooka Angus Stud Maiden Plate was a close race with jockey Rachael Murray riding ‘Miss Madoff’ running first and ‘Sing Me Some’ second. While the race was close, Miss Madoff managed to break a track record by one second in this race.
However in the third race, sponsored by H Roy Miller, ‘Miss Madoff’s’ track record from a previous year was beaten by ‘Power Base,’ ridden by Lee Menser.
Following this race, the McGregor’s Agricultural Services Maiden HCP saw a very close race between Silver Rocket and Jaal Spirit. With just a horse length between them, Silver Rocket came out in front.
The Austbrokers RWA 2011 Bingara Cup was won by the favourite ‘Silver Street’, followed closely by ‘Kid Paleface’ and ‘Mountain Brew’.
Silver Street is owned by R M Borthwick and Ms H J Kind, is trained by Bill Farrow and was ridden by jockey Jessica Drury. The ten year old grey gelding has been a star on the track with numerous metropolitan wins accumulating to a total of over $220 000 worth of prize money won over the years. Although far past his prime in terms of horse racing, Silverstreet is still continuing to dominate on the track.
‘Jessica’s depth of riding skills were evident after she won in Brisbane last weekend and then came down to Bingara to take out the cup’ Sinclair said
“The Ladies dominated the day in fashion and on the horses,” he said.
“Four out of the five races run were won by lady jockeys and nine out of the ten races held at Bingara and Bundarra also saw lady jockeys dominating.”
With a five race schedule and a huge Fashion on the Field contest, the day didn’t have one dull moment. From small children to men and women of all ages, organiser of Fashions on the Field, Browyn Neate, made sure there was a good range of contestants in all age groups.
Miss Racegoer and Master Racegoer were chosen from the age group of under 15 years with Miss Racegoer being Tiama Malby and Master Racegoer Jayden Sullivan.
Later on in the afternoon, the judging of the Best Fascinator went to Jade Dixon and the Best Lady’s Hat to Megan Simpson.
The final judging of fashions on the field was for Mr Trendy, Ms Racing and Lady of the Day. Young Narrabri man, Ryan Coblen, resplendant in green and purple, was chosen as Mr Trendy, while the beautiful young Alix Wade was named Ms Racing.
Alix’s outfit was a simple black dress completed with apricot shoes and a personally hand crafted black fascinator with matching apricot flowers.
The Lady of the Day went to Sharon Price in her lovely red outfit and matching red hat, which certainly stood her out from the crowd.
“The Fashion on the Field contest was fabulous,” Mr Munro said. “It was the highest quality and quantity of fashion I have seen at the Bingara Races, especially the women.”
This year the Bingara Cup, which in previous years has been sponsored by Booroomooka Angus Stud, was instead sponsored by John Hallman, of the Insurance company Austbrokers RWA. Mr Hallman, who now lives in Sydney, grew up in the Bingara area and left some 30 years ago and was very happy to sponsor the race.
“They (Austbrokers) were very pleased with how the day turned out and are happy to sponsor it again next year.
“I am very proud of the community support and the committee did a good job successfully running such a big day”, Mr Munro said.
