History was made at Birdsville on Sunday, with the remote outback track hosting Australia’s biggest thoroughbred race day this year while a female duo of jockey and trainer prevailed in the Birdsville Cup for the first time in 134 years.
Thousands of revelers arrived for a condensed Sunday program, which combined 11 races from the rain-cancelled 13 race Friday and Saturday program.
A 10-horse field contested the Birdsville Cup, with Darwin-based jockey Kayla Cross storming to victory on the Heather Lehmann-trained More Alpha.
The revised program followed 55mm of rainfall in Birdsville leading up to the meeting, which equated to over a third of the town’s yearly average rainfall.
The deluge turned Birdsville’s iconic red racetrack to sludge and closed all roads to and from the town.
Event organisers hosted a phantom race day on Saturday to entertain the thousands of punters who had made it into Birdsville ahead of the rain.
Photos courtesy of Salty Dingo.
