The Cobar Miners Race Club has been gifted another ‘Pop Up’ Race Meeting just in time for Christmas.
Cobar Miners Race Club president Jarrod Marsden said following on from the success of their Pop Up meeting in September, Racing NSW has granted the Cobar club another Pop Up meeting on December 10.
He said Cobar was granted this six race picnic meeting due to numerous other country meetings either being washed out or abandoned due to rain and floodwaters.
“We feel for those clubs who have been smashed by recent weather events,” Mr Marsden said.
“It’s not only the loss of income from having no races, but these clubs also face massive clean up and repair bills with volunteer committees handling the bulk of the workload on top of the personal hardships they are also facing from these events.
“For us as a committee, this meeting isn’t about making money for our club.
“Our aim is to break even and hopefully a little bit of sponsorship, and the takings from the gate and the bar will allow that to happen,” he said.
“For us, it’s all about giving trainers, jockeys and all those who make their living from racing, a chance to do exactly that – earn a living, which is especially hard in the bush.
“At the end of the day our goal is providing a platform for the racing industry to prosper and grow in our region,” Mr Marsden said.
“And of course we love a party, so if companies, groups or social clubs have not locked in their Christmas party yet, then why not make your Christmas party a day at the races?
“We are grateful to Racing NSW for giving us this opportunity,” he said.
“It shows they are not all about TAB meetings and the mighty dollar and are putting back into Country Racing.
“It also proves the hard work done by our committee is putting us in good stead within the industry.”
Mr Marsden said while the track is still in great condition from the last meeting, a few things will need to be sorted before they can race.
The committee was originally having problems sourcing a race steward for the Pop Up event but that’s now been sorted with an official coming from Scone.
