Big crowds, exciting racing and outstanding performances, the 2015 Brisbane Ekka had it all.
10 days of harness racing around a tight 400 metre track at an event which attracted over half a million people, what a fantastic way to promote our product.
The standardbreds raced before a packed house on Saturday night with an estimated 30,000 cramming into vantage points in the John McDonald Stand, Ernest Baynes Stand, Members Stand, Council Reserve, Machinery Hill, Cattleman’s Bar, Hill Suites and Gregory Terrace Reserve to watch the races. And, when the horses were competing, they were all fans, young and old picking their favourites and hollering the names. It almost seemed the louder the crowd cheered the faster the horses ran.
“Isn’t this fantastic,” Ekka race sponsor Chris ‘CJ’ Garrard beamed. “It’s absolutely fantastic, the competitors from the kids racing for sashes in the mini trotting to our veterans of racing competing for the prizemoney have done us all proud and the people watching have loved every minute of it.”
The name Weidemann became almost a household name with sisters Lola and Julie and their niece Stacey dominating the race list and the results. Lola drove 12 race winners including the $10,000 Grand Final winner, Julie drove six winners including victories in two consolation finals and Stacey drove three winners. Julie completely owned the trainer’s title, winning 22 races.
The Garrard’s Big Dog Grand Final on Sunday night was raced just minutes before the fireworks started and the race was everything it promised to be.
Just five horses started but the horses and drivers delivered the action in spades. On paper it looked like the Weidemann’s would go one, two in the grand final and that’s the way it turned out, but the race was far from black and white, it was technicolor.
In an exciting mid-race move, Lola shifted her charge Mister Elegant into top gear and he steamed around the outside of the field to take control of the race from the stablemate, last year’s grand final winner Lonesome Mach, driven by Julie. The tactic put Ricky Gordon driving Miss Catalina in a pocket and three lengths barely separated the five horses. After completing four laps, Mister Elegant held a one length margin on Lonesome Mach with Miss Catalina one and a quarter lengths away in third. The other two finalists Its You Not Me (Noel Parrish) and Dutch Cream (Steve Burke) were right on their hammer after being very competitive all the way.
Mister Elegant was a star at the Show and his winning time for the Grand Final mile was 2.08.4, with each lap averaging 32.1 seconds. Mister Elegant , a five-year-old gelding by TylerB stallion Miles McCool has won almost $90,000 at registered race meetings and during the Show he greeted the judge first four times.
The Weidemann’s also harnessed up the Horse of The Show, Mister Armageddon. The six-year-old son of Trump Casino scored three wins, two seconds and a third from six starts at the Ekka.
The mini trotters from the Queensland Junior Harness Association raced at the final three days of the show and the kids will have plenty of stories to tell back at school. They got to experience what it’s like to race in front of a big crowd and the races were some of the best we’ve seen with the mini’s perfectly suited to the 400 metre circuit.
“I’ve never raced in front of this many people before, it was great,” 12 year-old Angus Garrard said after his horse Sparkling Star was sashed for being the star performer on Sunday evening.
Royal Queensland Show ringmaster Jan McMillan said it was tremendous to have trotting back at the show.
“The response from the industry and the audiences every day has been fantastic,” Ms. McMillan said. “A lot of people have worked hard to make this happen and we look forward to having the trots back racing again next year.”
RNA (Ekka) Show Results:http://www.harness.org.au/news/uploads/EKKA%20Results%20spreadsheet%2020157.pdf
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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