Girl from the sticks wins Race to Ranch
There’s a retired racehorse resting in a paddock in Bourke with a very big story to tell.
Gus, also known as Pullman Brown, when he was on the track, was half of the team competing in a unique event – Race to Ranch, with rider Brittney Finn.
The event is a 100-day challenge to take an off-the-racetrack thoroughbred and train it to be a working ranch horse.
Gus and Brittney were the team that started out in June to take on the challenge, but three weeks in, Gus sustained an injury and it looked like Brittney would have to pull out of the event.
Luckily, another racehorse, Darlene, became available and Brittney, a mother-of-two based in Cunnamulla, was back in the competition.
Despite the rocky start – and finding out she was pregnant just as the competition began – Brittney romped home at the Cowgirl’s Gathering last weekend, as the co-winner of the event.
Brittney, who is a regular visitor to Bourke, said the experience was life changing.
“I’m still pinching myself. I one hundred per cent did not think I would be the winner,” Brittney said.
“I was talking to my co-winner Jane Moore, and we were both saying how we felt like country bumpkins, asking ourselves what we were doing there.
“We had the imposter syndrome and then to come home champions, we just said to each other that the bush girls did it!” she said.
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