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By HARRY CLARKE
NEWLY minted Chinchilla Race Club president Jo Rayner quipped to the Caller that “women make the world go around”, and that may well be true.
One thing is for certain, and that’s that women will make the horses go around when the club next month hosts another of its highly anticipated TAB race meetings.
In a proud display of country girl power the Chinchilla Race Club recently formed a committee made up entirely of women, and they’re taking on the task of continuing the town’s strong racing tradition with the same enthusiasm that Gai Waterhouse takes on a well bred two-year-old filly.
The Chinchilla Race Club will hold the second of its two annual TAB meetings on Monday, May 17.
The first was held last month, and Raynor said the new and relatively inexperienced all-female committee had a successful first start.
“It was really hectic but we had a really great day, and a successful day,” Raynor said.
“I’m very lucky to have a really good, supportive committee. Although everybody’s very new to the job, everybody’s jumped in and helped where they can and everyone who came out to the races really seemed to enjoy the day.
“We’ve got an all female committee and we like to recognise all the women in racing in general. They do a fantastic job.
“But of course we’d love to have a few blokes to come along and get involved, if there were any around town who’d be interested in joining the committee. It’s a great club to be involved in and our big race days in November and December are a lot of fun.”
Not only are the ladies in charge of Chinchilla racing new to their roles, some are new to racing all together, but were attracted to the club by the community spirit, excitement and theatres that country racing offers.
Raynor said TAB meetings were a valuable opportunities to showcase the strength of country racing to a national audience.
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“It’s always difficult to get people to the venue on a Monday, with everybody working, but we’re certainly been very happy with the numbers that have turned up for our TAB meeting,” she said.
“We make a bit of money across the bar and we did pretty well at the March meeting which was a bit of novice run for the new committee, so we did well.
“It’s fantastic, particularly for Chinchilla, and it’s really good for country racing that these little tracks can get that Sky Racing exposure.”
Speaking from the Chinchilla Race Club, Thoroughbred Central form analysts and racing broadcaster Nathan Exelby said Sky Racing teams always enjoyed bringing national sports programming to the bush.
“I grew up in the country and I grew up going to country race meetings. I just love them and I know what they mean to certain towns and how they bring people together,” Exelby said.
“For Sky to come out here, personally I’m loving it. They’re really nice days, driving out from Brisbane, and the racing’s always good, true to form racing.
“Country racetracks have just got a different feel to them. They got a real charm to them. They’re run by volunteer committees who do it for just the love of the game and I think people appreciate that.”
