Races
In the past the Birdsville races have included:
- a seven-pound handicap or penalty for professional riders
- special races for horses bred within 250 miles of Birdsville. There were also separate races for horses fed with corn and those fed on grass.
- prizemoney for the cup has varied from 500 pounds in the 1880s to 50 pounds in the 1940s, A$5,000 in 1982 and $25,000 in 2002.
- the cup distance has been 1 mile or 1,600 metres since the first race, in 1882. In 1949 and 1950 the ‘Hospital Handicap’ (1 mile) was run in lieu of the Cup. Meetings were held then to raise funds for the construction of the Birdsville Hospital. The annual race meeting is now held to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Birdsville Clinic.
- races were once started by the drop of a hat and later by strand barriers. They are now started with barrier stalls.
- the old course was three miles to the west of the town. There used to be steeplechase races on this course. The course was abandoned as it was prone to flooding.
Read more about this topic: Birdsville Races
Famous quotes containing the word races:
“Women are most fascinating between the ages of thirty-five and forty, after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves. Since few women ever pass forty, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely.”
—Christian Dior (1905–1957)
“I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“For the most part we stupidly confound one man with another. The dull distinguish only races or nations, or at most classes, but the wise man, individuals.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)