THE magic of the annual Ewan race meeting held on September 25-27 enchanted the crowd once again as the wonderful atmosphere mixed from equal parts excitement, laughter and friendship seemingly saturated the air.
Ewan Amateur Turf Club secretary/treasurer Noel Brosnan said the meeting holds a special place in the hearts of many North Queenslanders and beyond as it’s one of the longest running race days in the region’s history having begun in 1922.
“It’s an annual event for a lot of families. And it’s been great to see the children of past Ewan stalwarts bring their kid’s along to continue the tradition for what will hopefully be generations to come,” he said.
He said even though crowd numbers were down slightly on the last few years he was pleased with the turnout.
“It’s been a tough time of late for a lot of people especially those from out west, so we expected numbers might drop a little, but I think everybody that came had a great time, and there was some terrific action on the track.”
Saturday proved to be a big day for Charters Towers-based trainer John Barr with Issues winning the Ewan Cup for the second year straight once again with Peter Cullen riding. The same trio took out the Townsville Apex Benchmark 74 Handicap on the Friday.
Events began on Thursday September 25 with a children’s fancy dress party, BBQ and music by the Kye Cole Band.
On Friday the Ewan Turf Club Annual General Meeting was held in the morning in the Ewan Beer Garden followed by the first five races and more music well into the evening.
Saturday began with the annual fun run and younger children’s sports followed with live music and entertainment, a Fashion Parade by Titleys Charters Towers, followed by more live entertainment and the drawing of the $10,000 Art Union raffle. An auction of donated goods took place on Saturday night as well.
Apart from a couple of picnic-styled race meetings, the Ewan Races are believed to be the only true thoroughbred race grass-fed meeting still being staged in Queensland.
