Easter Bunny Salutes At Nanango

Brisbane’s Rachel Suter and Belinda Kinderman stayed with friends in Maidenwell over Easter … they made their Easter bonnets on the kitchen table on Saturday morning

April 26, 2019

The bar ran out of champagne, 70 kilos of chips were cooked … by any measure, Nanango’s Easter Race meeting on Saturday was a huge success.

And although only one favourite greeted the judge, omen punters would have been pleased; the jockey sported an (Easter) bunny on its silks!

The weather gods smiled on the meeting, but it was a close thing.

Race Club president Andrew Green said he heard heavy rain on the roof just as he was drifting off to sleep on Friday night and feared the worst.

He was relieved when Saturday dawned dry.

Happily, the weather stayed that way for most of the day even though many patrons drove through heavy showers to get to the track.

Those who pushed on were rewarded with one of Nanango Race Club’s biggest meetings of the year.

Bumper crowds packed the undercover areas, the grandstand and the canteen for most of the day; bookmakers were busy in the betting ring; and the mounting yard fence was a sea of faces.

The bar ran out of both vodka and champagne towards the middle of the meeting and had to send out for fresh supplies; and the canteen served a record amount of hot chips.

The meeting had a festive air, with many patrons dressing in brightly coloured Easter bonnets and uploading smartphone selfies to the Race Club’s social media pages for a chance to win prizes.

Opposition Leader and Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington brought along her three daughters for a rare family day away from the hurly-burly of politics, and many other patrons came from the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Gympie for a day of country racing fun.

The three-day Maidenwell Running Festival also proved an unexpected bonus for the race club.

Most of its foot races were run on Saturday morning which allowed the runners to take an afternoon off to experience another side of the South Burnett.

The sole winning favourite was Machu Picchu in Race 4.

Jockey Hannah English was wearing a very large bunny rabbit on her silks, the favoured design of the horse’s trainer Brian “Bunny” Laherty.

The Nanango Race Club’s next outing will be its Autumn Race Meeting on May 25, a fortnight after the Burrandowan Picnic Races on May 11.

Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington came to the races with her daughters Lucy, Elke and Isabella for a fun family day out at Lee Park

Steven John, Josh Connolly, Mark Vickery and Lachlan Haffenden came up from Brisbane to enjoy a day of country racing

Saxophonist Anne Bavin drops in to see friends at Blackbutt every Easter, and also performs at Lee Park’s Easter Saturday race meeting; Anne said her ‘yearly tour’ has become a tradition she enjoys

Jack Mehoff, Joe Curran, Brent White, Kobi Meehan and Paul Mehoff travelled from Gympie to attend the meeting … Kobi said he planned to return for Wondai’s Anzac Day meeting just a few days later

Brisbane’s Karen McCarthy and Mick Warnock wore special Easter bonnets for the day …

… and so did Kylie Floyd, from Wynnum, and her friend, Sandy Dee, from Mt Warren Park, who were both taking a break from the three-day Maidenwell Running Festival

Paul Basnett and Julia Lamb travelled from the Gold Coast to enjoy Lee Park’s Easter Saturday meeting

Kathy De Loren and her son Jet’aime, 11, congratulated jockey Hannah English on her win aboard Machu Picchu in Race 4 … Hannah was wearing trainer Brian “Bunny” Laherty’s colours, and Kathy and her son had also dressed to the Easter theme

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Dabke (with Ron Goltz aboard) beat Coalbank Caviar (Hannah Phillips) by one-and-a-half lengths in the first race of the day

Results

Race 1 – Country Design And Print BenchMark 55 Handicap (800m)
1. Dabke (4) – Ron Goltz
2. Coalbank Caviar (8) – Hannah Phillips
3. Lil Ruby Rose (1) – Louise Dillon
Time: 0:45.33
Margins: 1 1/2 lengths x 2 3/4 lengths

Race 2 – Pursers Buses QTIS Maiden Plate (1000m)
1. Cyclone Kaycee (2) – Brooke Mackie
2. Run The Cutter (12) – Shannon Apthorpe
3. Geng (3) – Kenji Yoshida
Time: 0:57.78
Margins: 1 3/4 lengths x 1 1/4 lengths

Race 3 – Xtreme 4×4 Sport Class B Handicap (1200m)
1. Positive Spin (9) – Robert Faehr
2. Whistledixie Lad (8) – Sally Sweeney
3. Brutus (2) – Hannah English
Time: 1:10.98
Margins: 1/2 head x 1/2 head

Race 4 – McDonalds Kingaroy BenchMark 65 Handicap (1200m)
1. Machu Picchu (3) – Hannah English
2. Man Overboard (7) – Kenji Yoshida
3. Haylee Prince (6) – Miki Nakao
Time: 1:09.79
Margins: 1 1/2 lengths x 2 lengths

Race 5 – Heritage Bank Nanango BenchMark 60 Handicap (1600m)
1. Walk To The Bar (2) – Gary Geran
2. Tony’s Decree (3) – Ron Goltz
3. Rocking Ossie (7) – Sally Sweeney
Time: 1:35.98
Margins: 1/2 head x 1/2 length