AS he contemplates his family snapping an 18-year drought in his beloved Birdsville Cup, long time race club warrior David Brook takes on a new challenge, this weekend with SKY Racing covering the carnival for the first time.

Backed by the #BetOnBirdsville campaign, SKY are set to telecast the Birdsville races on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s a first for us going Australia wide,” Brook said. “I hope people enjoy it. It’s quite a job for a club that only races once a year to put it on.

“You have to get a lot of things right. So I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

Brook has been involved with the Birdsville Race Club for more than 40 years, as a secretary, committeeman but more often than not, president, a post he still holds today.

“I haven’t been president all the time, there’s been some years where we’ve managed to find some sucker that can get talked into it,” he jokes.

“It’s not like being Prime Minister where there’s some bugger trying to take your job!”

The 70-year-old, who also served 18 years on the Diamantina Shire Council, 10 of them as Mayor, loves nothing more than showcasing western Queensland to a broader audience.

He hopes the two-day SKY coverage will encourage more people to make their way west, be it for the races or simply as tourists.

“There might be some negatives with a few that might say they don’t have to come now they can see it on the television, but from the point of view of Birdsville, it’s always going to be on somebody’s bucket list for some reason,” Brook said.

“When they see the racing, with the dirt track, it’s quite spectacular really with the hooves and the dust.

“It’s very different. It’s just not another race meeting on grass.”

The Brook family’s association with the Birdsville Cup dates back to the 1940s, when David’s father Bill won it as a jockey.

As owners, they won it for the first time in the Centenary year of 1982 with Brashleigh.

That was the first of six cups, up to the most recent of them Dimurta, in the year 2000.

“We’ve had a few goes since then, but competition comes from everywhere,” Brook said.

“Hopefully can win it this year.”

Brook has three runners this weekend — all of them progeny of his mare Rustic Rossa.

De Losko and Rooi Roe run today for Roma trainer Craig Smith, while top Adelaide trainer Phillip Stokes has Boggoms in Saturday’s $40,000 1600m cup.

“Phillip’s dad Ron and his family were from (Birdsville) way back,” Brook said. “Phillip told me his dad would love to win the Birdsville Cup, so if we can win, it will be a bit exciting for Ron.

“We’re testing him at the distance. He’s never won beyond 1250m in Adelaide. We don’t know how he will handle the dirt. He’s a duffer on soft tracks in Adelaide.”

BIRDSVILLE CALLS AS OUTBACK LURES VICTORIANS

Michael Manley
BENDIGO jockey John Keating is an unabashed Birdsville fan — and that’s why he’s happy to drive three days and 3000km to be part of the famous two-day carnival that starts on Friday.

This year he helped talk Stawell trainer Dane Smith into making the trip to outback Queensland. Smith took five horses there and he couldn’t be happier.

He made it a family affair, with 12 adults and five children joining his caravan to Birdsville.

Smith has two runners on Friday and three on Saturday — and Keating will ride them all.

“It’s not going to be easy, as the horses we’re racing against are used to running on these dirt tracks, but to even be here is a great experience,” he said.

Smith has Fratelli and Bequest running Friday and on Saturday will be represented by Miss Pickle, Our Dexter and Himalaya Dream.

Keating finished second in last year’s Birdsville Cup and said he wouldn’t rest until he won one. He said it was intoxicating riding at the carnival, where several thousand caravans and tents surround the track.

The most memorable of his four carnivals was his first in 2011, when the course flooded.

“I was on the Channel 9 news that year sitting in my jockey’s colours with a whip and a helmet in a kayak at the winning post,” Keating said.

Keating said he was excited to pick up the ride on Unbreakable for Murray Bridge trainer Michael Hickmott. Hickmott has auctioned 5 per cent of the horse, which is the $5.50 second favourite with TAB, with all proceeds going to the Queensland Country Women’s Association Drought Appeal.