Louth Races this Saturday!

There may be a drought and times may be tough, but the party must go on and Louth is set for what is expected to be a huge weekend of horse racing and excitement this weekend.

Louth Races President Jim Strachan said he had been inundated with enquiries about camping and visitation to Louth over the races weekend of this Friday and Saturday, and he was quietly confident it would be as successful an event as those held in more prosperous times.

“We won’t know the final number of nominations for horses and trainers until tonight, but we have had a lot of interest,” Jim said.

“We always get an enormous number of enquiries regarding camping, a lot of them through social media and phone calls at home so there will be a lot of campers there. The fish are biting as well so that helps!

“The river is looking good because when the Warrego flooded that flows into the Darling at Toorale above Louth, and down the river down to Louth and beyond.

“The track is in great condition, a lot better than we thought because we were worried about the drought.

“The Easter rains really brought it up beautifully and the curators Don and Sam Le Lievre have done an incredible job, they really have. It looks fantastic.”

As well as the grounds, the Louth Race Club received funding which has allowed for the construction of more infrastructure at the track.

“We have a brand-new race callers and judges tower this year which looks terrific.

“It’s a state-of-the-art job with a three tiered tower which we’ve had all wired out so that’s really exciting.

“The tower is eight metres tall and is about four metres square. The finish and photography is done from the top tier, the race callers and judges and other officials are on the middle tier and it is a really well constructed and much needed facility for the course.”

Jim said the Louth Race club paid for the construction initially and was then able to get funding through the Racing NSW development fund. Jim also paid tribute to Alex Murray who had been the driving force behind the successful social media campaign to advertise the Louth race meet.

“Alex has been incredible and she has also been the person organising the Fashions on the Field competition which is always a very popular part of the race day,” Jim said.

We are looking forward to a very successful and enjoyable day for everyone who comes along to enjoy it.”