Longreach Jockey Club to honour a club icon

By Jordan Gerrans

As the Longreach Jockey Club welcomes in a new era in the Central West on Monday afternoon, they will ensure they also have a nod to their rich history.

Longreach will be broadcast across the screens of Sky Racing across Australia through a mid-week TAB fixture for the first time on Monday.

The dirt track has hosted TAB meetings on their annual Cup day in recent years, which always falls on a Saturday, and will coincide with the many meetings around the country.

The committee at Longreach and the wider industry in the Central West are enthusiastic about showing their unique country racing experience as the standalone TAB meeting for Queensland on Monday.

“It is a pretty historic day for the racing community on Monday,” Longreach Jockey Club president Andrew Watts said.

And, when the seven-event program gets under way on Monday, the club will honour one of their greatest contributors over the decades.

The first race on the card is the Longreach Jockey Club Patron Kate Deane Maiden Plate over 1000 metres.

Kate Deane became Australia's first female racing club president back in 1986 and her family have had a long-standing relationship with the sport in the region.

At 97 years of age, Kate boasts the title of being a Life Member at the Longreach club and does not miss a race day.

She will be on track on Monday afternoon and will hand out the prizes to the winning connections post-race.

Deane’s grandson – Phil – will often accompany Kate to the track.

“It is nice to have that kind of recognition,” Phil said.

“At 97 to still be going to every race meeting in town, it is pretty impressive.”

Phil speaks with great pride when noting his grandmother was the first female to lead to a race club in Australia.

Kate passed on her love of the racing industry and horses in general to her children, who have now passed it on to Phil.

A deep interest and love for equine athletes goes back many generations for the family in the Central West.

Kate’s grandfather Rowley Edkins was a founding club member at Longreach, as well as holding the title of president for more than four decades, while her father Beau Edkins became president in 1948 and remained in the position until 1960.

Kate has lived in the town for her entire life and in an interview with the ABC back in 2020 spoke of her passion for racing.

While the former club president is now blind and can no longer see the horses going around the track, she still can enjoy the experience.  

“I would not have missed a meeting in I do not know how many years,” she said back in 2020.

“I love racing.

“Even though I cannot see now, I can still feel the atmosphere and I can hear the horses galloping or in the saddling enclosure before they go out to race.

“That sort of thing means a lot to me.”

The club have named a race after their long-time patron a number of times in recent years but Phil says the event being run on a TAB day adds extra significance to it.

“She goes to about every race meeting at Longreach,” Phil said.

“While she cant see any more, she loves the sounds and the smells of the races.

“She still has a very good idea of what is going on and she is very clued on for her age, which is great.

“She is still very sharp.”

As well as the race being named after the respected Kate, the club is hopeful of also having another slice of history in the first race.

“Our club colours, she sewed together with leftover material she had,” Watts said.

“They are orange and blue and we have just bought a new set – so we are going to try and trot them out on the day.”

Phil can recall the days when the family had over 1000 horses at their property that they trained, using their own starting gates.

In recent years Phil has begun to prepare gallopers for Tower Hill and Kooroorinya, which are two of the last registered grass fed meetings in Queensland.

“We have been fairly successful with it, we have never been out of a place,” Phil said of his grass fed training. 

“We started with one horse and now we have two.

“They are in training now for this year’s races.”

The Edkins and Deane clans have been heavily involved in several types of horse sports over the generations.

“All grandma’s daughters used to ride and a lot of them still do, they have been very successful in other horse disciplines as well,” Phil said.

“They have competed in dressage, show jumping and eventing.

“My grandpa actually got invited to a couple of the Olympic Games but he could not go.

“He self-trained all his horses and was a very good horseman.

“Our family grew up with horses and have been a big part of our family for a very long time.”

Monday’s seven-event program is Longreach’s sole mid-week TAB meeting for the racing season.

The seven races have attracted 68 starters from across the Sunshine State.

Longreach will be joined by Barcaldine (Monday July 3) as new mid-week TAB clubs in the state.