The Sky is the limit
Birdsville ready for its time in the spotlight
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 very first time.
Backed by the #BetOnBirdsville campaign, Sky are set to telecast the Birdsville races today and tomorrow.
“It’s a first for us going Australia wide. I hope people enjoy it. It’s quite a job for a club that only races once a year to put it on,” Brook said.
“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 as 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 link 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 centenary year 1982 with Brashleigh.
That was the first of six cups, up to the most recent of them – Dimurta in 2000.