A festival of dirt and dust
Julia Creek’s biggest weekend a raging success
Julia Creek promised its festival-goers dirt and dust - and they got a lot of it at the Artesian Express Race Day.
High winds caused havoc among both horses and dresses.
A crown jewel in the Dirtndust weekend, the race day got off to a comedic start when multiple horses gave their jockeys the quick step and set out to chose their own directions in life.
Pressed into fancy outfits and with punts and beers in hand, racegoers watched as two horses were scrapped after it became too difficult to load them in the gates.
Then, when everything was nearly ready to go, two more got through the gates and took off towards the finish line sans rider.
In the end, only three horses completed the race with a jockey still attached.
Richmond horse Valiant Knight took the top prize home for his trainers and owners, the Royse family.
Shryn Royes said it was five-year-old Valiant Knight’s first start, making him an undefeated champion... for now.
“That race became a little bit difficult because of the wind, plus we’ve had a good season so the roly polys are out.” Ms Royes said.
Roly polys are tumbleweed like plants which roll large dis
tances on the wind and covered the local landscape during the festival.
Race two was won by Julia Creek horse Sogni who beat the odds to fly the local flag.
In race three a horse took a head-over-heel fall on the home straight.
The track ambulance was on the scene in seconds with paramedics and local equine vet Vanessa Slack-smith onboard.
Ms Slack-smith said she immediately held the horse’s head so it couldn’t get up.
“I made it stay there for a long time because I didn’t know if it had hit it’s head, and it was lying right next to the jockey,” she said.
“I held the top of it’s head down and it quietly laid there. Later I stood up, grabbed it’s reins and it stood right up.”
Ms Slack-smith said the horse - Mr Tindall - was declared not lame, meaning he’ll recover nicely with the help of painkillers.
Worst off was jockey Jeffrey Felix who broke his collar bone in the fall.
Working security was wellknown face Michael Chong from Charters Towers.
“I’ve been working at these events for 10 years now,” Mr Chong said.
“When the bush events start around Easter I’m working for five months straight doing rodeos and festivals.”
Because of this, he’s gotten to know a lot of people.
“When I see all the kids, I get to know them and they know me,” Mr Chong said.
“It’s become easier over the years (to do security). The young ones seem to want to enjoy themselves and they don’t get as out of control.”
Julia Creek local Andrew Mitchell was behind the wheel of the loop bus, which ran between events and accommodation across town every 15 minutes.
Mr Mitchell said the drunks could be annoying - especially as the loop bus runs until 2am - but he “gave it back to them”.
Another rural character was Robbie Katter who appeared with a cut-out of his relative Liam O'brien, who's been in hospital getting cancer treatment for over 100 days. "I bring him out and take pictures so Liam can see he's going places," Mr Katter said.
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