Club Spotlight: Jundah

By Jordan Gerrans

Many clubs throughout the Sunshine State have lost race meetings over the last 18 months, however Jundah Race Club has most certainly bucked that trend.

Dozens of country clubs in Queensland lost their annual non-TAB race days in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and initially, Jundah – based in the Central West racing district of the state – also looked set to lose their annual meeting last year.

A few things changed and they were added to the calendar in September of last year and with two race days coming up between late August and the first week of October 2021 – Jundah will race three times in the space of just over 12 months.

Following the cancellation of the 2021 Simpson Desert Racing Carnival (Betoota, Birdsville and Bedourie), Betoota’s race day was transferred to Jundah, with Club President Dan Pittman gladly accepting the invitation.

“We were not supposed to get a meeting last year, but we did after the COVID times,” Pittman recalled.

“There was a couple of available dates there so we put it on.

“We get to race twice this year as well, we race Betoota’s meeting this coming Saturday and then our big date is still on October 3 – being on a Sunday for us this year.

“We were keen to help Betoota out and our track was pretty much ready anyway.

“For a club that only races once a year, we are pretty on the ball and ready to go – there is no rush for us – we are pretty ready to go.

“We were keen to race Sunday as it is Queen’s Birthday weekend and southern races for Melbourne are Sunday that week as well.

“The extra races help us and our bank balance out.”

Dual-licensed Blackall horseman David Rewald has long been a supporter of the Jundah races and believes the extra racing will do the club wonders.

“Things last better when they get used, if you do not use stuff like a racetrack, it will fall to bits,” Rewald said.

“This extra meeting, it is great they can utilise their facilities before they race again on the Sunday.

“It will work in well for the Club as they have got everything up and going.”

With a population of just under 100, Jundah’s races last year attracted a crowd of nearly 500 people, with keen punters and racegoers descending on the bush town from surrounding areas.

After taking the August race day on at late notice, Pittman is unsure what kind of crowd will front up this Saturday but expects to again get close to 500 on-course in their October meeting.

The club will run six non-TAB races this Saturday with 52 nominated to go around as of Tuesday afternoon. 

The committee behind Jundah have been busy in recent years, working to improve and update their facilities to the benefit of spectators and participants.

“We have put a new running rail in not that long ago and we built a brand new jockeys room last year,” Pittman said.

“That is for the females and male, we got a grant to pay for that, as well as chipping in our money and help from the Barcoo Shire council also.

“It cost about $100,00 all up to build the new jockeys room, which we finished a day before the meeting last year.”

Rewald, who moved to Blackall in 2007, has an excellent record at Jundah – training eight winners from just 40 starters and boasts a 50 per cent strike rate for his runners finishing in the money at the track.

As a trainer-jockey who travels far and wide to race his stable in the regional areas of Queensland, Rewald appreciates the new facilities at Jundah for riders and notes it is an even track, being able to win from anywhere in the run.

“They have done a lot at the Club, the track used to get very hard but they have done it up and worked on it a fair bit,” Rewald said.

“Tracks like that, you cannot just leave them all year and then get them ready just before the races, they have been working on their one for a bit.

“You do not have to lead on the track to win, you can come from behind if you need to, it just depends on the tempo of the race.”

The team behind the Club have been getting the racing surface in top condition of late, expecting to welcome stables from Longreach, Barcaldine and Blackall, among other surrounding areas this weekend.

“It is a short straight on red soil – which allows us to wet the track so there is not as much dust, so we can wet it fairly well without having mud,” Pittman, who has been involved in the racing industry almost his entire life, said.

“It is a tight turning track with the field limit being 10 – it is wide but tight turning at the same time.”

Jundah boasts one permanent trainer - Darrel Dolgner – who has a handful of gallopers in work and has increased his strike-rate remarkably over the last two seasons.

Dolgner did not train a winner for four straight seasons, dating back to 2016-17, but has collected three victories over the last couple of campaigns.

Across the six races this weekend, as many as five horses that start will be locally owned in Jundah.

From the Rewald stable, Strawberry Blonde and Zilitor, who went around in the 2021 TAB Battle of the Bush Final, are part-owned by Pittman and other members of his family, among other connections.

Jundah has raced for over 100 years and as recent as 15 years ago was a two-day meeting.

“We are a bit remote; we are in the Barcoo Shire and there is three towns in it and we are the only town that races in this shire,” Pittman said.

“Our next closest town to race is Longreach, which is 220 kilometres away.”