By Jordan Gerrans
As the furthest west race track in Queensland, the Camooweal Jockey Club holds a special piece of history within the state.
Being based north-west of Mount Isa and around 15kms from the Northern Territory border, Camooweal is a long way from the bright lights of Albion Park or Doomben.
Even though there is no jockeys, horses or trainers based in town – they still love their racing at Camooweal, cherish their annual race day every year, with the Cup being apart of the fabric of the community for decades.
The remote town – which relies on cattle properties for their income – have been without racing for almost three years, COVID getting in the way back in 2020 before concerns around their track surface forced a transfer to Mount Isa last year.
But, following a recent grant from the fourth round of the Palaszczuk Government’s Country Racing Program, locals in Camooweal are hopeful of being able to enjoy a punt and a drink trackside later this year.
With significant track remediation at Camooweal Jockey Club expected following the CRP grant – as well as a set of starting gates – club president Lloyd Hick is buoyant about the future of the industry in his town.
“It was a relief, racing in the bush is very different to city racing, it is a community event and a very social day for our community,” Hick said.
“We were very disappointed over the last two years not being able to race – the first year due to COVID and the second year due to our track conditions.
“For us to receive a grant like this, for everyone to come on board and help us in this way, it is an extremely good thing for us.
“The cost of something like this as a small club, we would not be able to do it ourselves without this help, so to have the support, it is terrific for us.
"We want everyone to be safe, but for a small club like Camooweal, that only races once year, there's no possible way that we could do these upgrades by ourselves."
After last racing at their track in 2019, many in Camooweal were excited to get back to the track in August of last year before being informed in the weeks leading into the race day the racing surface was not in a position to be raced on and required work.
With funds secured to be able to revitalise the track, the club’s committee will now start the process around removing the small stones on the track, which put a stop to their meeting in 2021.
According to Hick, members of the clubs racing committee have the relevant machinery that will be able to aid the works.
“We will need to resurface the track in some way,” he said.
“At this stage, we have spoken about taking the top 30 centimetres off and putting it through a sieve and then putting it back on to remove the stones.
“That is what we are considering at the moment but we will have further discussions later this month to make the final decision around what the club will do.
“There is still a bit of time before our race day but something like this will take a considerable amount of time to complete so we are keen to get into it as soon as possible.
“Hopefully we can organise the track and ensure we have a community event at the end of this year.”