The 139 Birdsville Races kicked off at the weekend amid the dust and scorching heat which seem to make it so appealing. Trackside there was plenty of colour and the wild and wacky fashion the event is famous for as thousands of punters converged on the tiny town on the edge of Outback Queensland’s Simpson Desert for the ‘Melbourne Cup of the Outback’. Horses trainers and jockeys from Mackay (QLD) Strathalbyn (SA), Blackall (QLD) and Darwin flocked to the richest two-day race-meet for the first time since 2019. The iconic two-day race meet was held as a history-making one-off in April after the traditional 2021 September event was postponed due to COVID.
The club received 84 entries across the 13-race two day program for the combined prizemoney total of $262,500.
The culmination of the weekend which has been a popular date on the calendar of many locals was the running of the 1600m TAB Birdsville Cup, which carried a $42,000 prize-purse.
The race was won by the Barcaldine trained Echo Point.
In a treat for Birdsville racegoers, the Birdsville Races return to Outback Queensland in September.
