August 9, 2021
Brisbane’s snap lockdown had an unexpected effect at Wondai’s Winter race meeting on Saturday, July 31.
The 4:00pm deadline for the introduction of the lockdown prompted Racing Queensland to issue a last-minute directive to all the State’s race clubs to move their race start times forward by 30 minutes to ensure all the day’s races ended before the lockdown began.
However, the edict didn’t distinguish between metropolitan tracks in the directly affected 11 local government areas and unaffected country tracks outside it.
The result was racegoers who turned up to Wondai’s showground to watch Race 1 at the originally advertised time found themselves watching Race 2 instead.
This last-minute rescheduling was the latest twist for the meeting, which had originally been scheduled for July 3.
That meeting had to be postponed at short notice when an unexpected burst of wet weather made the early July get-together untenable.
Last Saturday, the weather was back to its sunny self, the track was dry and many patrons who dressed to the “Black and White” fashion theme provided a pleasant contrast on the concourse.
Race club officials also consoled themselves with the thought that attendances at this year’s meeting were well up on last year.
In 2020, the race club had been forced to run a patron-free winter meeting to conform with pandemic directions in force at that time.
As usual, the majority of this year’s winter meeting was sponsored by several branches of the Duff family.
Family patriarch Lewis Duff helped establish the Wondai Jockey Club – the ancestor of today’s South Burnett Race Club – close to a century ago, and many of the Duff family have maintained their connection with the Wondai racetrack ever since.
As usual, Cr Kathy Duff oversaw the Fashions Of The Field competition, selecting men and women, and boys and girls, to compete in the popular event.
But because of the Racing Queensland directive judging was postponed until the last race of the day had been run.
However, most fashionable patrons stayed on the course and the winners walked away with prizes for their efforts.
- The South Burnett Race Club’s next meeting will be its annual Caulfield Cup race meeting on Saturday, October 16.
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Results
Race 1 – Lewis Duff Memorial Open Handicap (1100m)
1. Miralie (4) – Leeanne McCoy
2. Diggity (1) – Isabella Teh
3. Husson’s Shout (5) – Shane McGovern
Time: 1:03.89
Margins: 1 1/2 lengths x 7 lengths
Race 2 – Raffin Electrical Contractors Pty Ltd Class B Handicap (1100m)
1. Stormtrooper (1) – Isabella Teh
2. Begin (5) – Shane McGovern
3. True Tally (3) – Leeanne McCoy
Time: 1:05.80
Margins: Length x 4 1/4 lengths
Race 3 – Kevin Duff Memorial BenchMark 55 Handicap (1000m)
1. Hard Enough (11e) – Cheryl Rogers
2. Valar Dohaeris (2) – Hannah Richardson
3. Crisscross (1) – Rebecca Wilson
Time: 0:59.78
Margins: Length x 2 lengths
Race 4 – Stephanie Duff Memorial Maiden Plate Two-Year-Old And Up Set Weights (850m)
1. Dynamic Jewel (7) – Rebecca Wilson
2. Stryking Maid (3) – Shannyn Stephan
3. Twogoboom (4) – Cheryl Rogers
Time: 0:50.72
Margins: 1/2 length x 1 1/2 lengths
Race 5 – Neal Duff Memorial BenchMark 65 Handicap (1575m)
1. Sugar Buzz (1) – Billie-Rose Andrew
2. My Taranaki (5) – Isabella Teh
3. Kentford (2) – Hannah Richardson
Time: 1:37.94
Margins: 3 1/2 lengths x 3/4 length
