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By Mark Brassel

Like all country folk, the people involved with Narromine Turf Club are always there to lend a helping hand.

On Thursday the club will race for the second time in nine days, although it was never programmed that way.

Narromine took up the slack when Wellington – like many other courses in the Central Districts region – was unfortunately inundated with flood waters and Racing NSW had to look elsewhere to running the meeting.

Narromine was also happy accommodate trainer Clint Lundholm and his team work their horses when the grass track at Dubbo underwent its annual summer renovations.

Mudgee Race Club was another that came to the party last Saturday with the recent rain events flooding Cowra Racecourse by stepping in to host their raceday.

“We genuinely feel for our Cowra friends as we were in the same place a couple of weeks ago after the flooding in Mudgee,” said Mudgee Race Club’s CEO, Damien Toose.

“We hope that they recover quickly, and the damage is minimal. Our thoughts are with the people of Cowra and their neighbouring towns.”

At Saturday’s raceday Mudgee offered entry to the race meeting via a gold coin donation at the gate which will go to Cowra to help with their recovery.

“Many racegoers came out and supported what turned out a great raceday.”

Meanwhile, Muswellbrook Race Club will stage its Muswellbrook Steel Supplies Tradies Raceday on Friday.

MRC’s GM, Trevor Taylor said: “Tradies Day is a new raceday to cater for all our tradies in the local area.

“Electricians, fitters, boilermakers, carpenters, plumbers and even machine operators are all welcome to attend.

“It’s a great chance for them to catch up with work colleagues before Christmas festivities take over in December.

“We have many things planned for the day including a Tradies footrace to see who’s the quickest tradie in the upper Hunter, with some great prizes on offer.

“And popular band Happy Daze will be playing in the gardens in what is our final raceday for 2022.”

The $29,000 Rusty Spanner Sprint (1000m) is the feature on the eight-race card offering $224,000 in prizemoney.

During the week Clarence River Jockey Club announced a new long-term sponsor for the prestigious Grafton Cup.

CRJC has agreed to a four-year deal with Westlawn Finance to take the naming rights for the $200,000 club feature conducted in July each year.

CRJC’s CEO, Michael Beattie added: “Westlawn Finance has been a major contributor not only to the economy of Grafton but to other major cities in Northern NSW and to be able to partner with such a respected organisation in the region with naming rights for the Grafton Cup is an exciting new step for the club.”

The deal with Westlawn Finance will cover the next four the Grafton Cups from 2023 to 2026.

UPCOMING NSW COUNTRY RACE MEETINGS
Tuesday: Murwillumbah
Thursday: Narromine
Friday: Muswellbrook
Saturday: Wagga-Riverside, Kempsey, Coonamble, Queanbeyan (non-TAB)
Sunday: Grafton