Coolamon a testament to harness racing’s quiet achievers

It’s well know that the minor country tracks all over the nation provide a vital back up to the better known venues and there is no better example of this than Coolamon which sits at the heart of the Riverina region of New South Wales.

Few people would know that the club is one of the oldest in the country. Coolamon’s first meeting was on the 14^th February 1920.

In this period some truly great pacers have raced at the Coolamon track. Although the club didn’t race 50 years ago in 1975, the year prior they staged three Free For Alls which were won by Twenty Cents, Liret and the mighty Paleface Adios.

Secretary Helen Turner explained “We were anticipating the centenary meeting in 2020 but it was all interrupted by the Covid outbreak.”

What makes Coolamon unique is that for such a small town of just 2,275 inhabitants that there is a dedicated group of locals who are responsible for putting together meetings and trials – all of it entirely voluntary a similar situation to most of the smaller clubs.

Helen who has been Secretary since 2005 added “We run trials every Sunday and these official trials are there to help the industry and the locals.”

“The Coolamon shire has been pushing to set us up as a training centre. Of course this depends on funding and harness racing New South Wales seems to be on board. However even if this eventuates we still only have two meetings per year.”

Racing at the Coolamon Showgrounds the track is a spacious 1053 metres and has a home straight of 245 metres.

President Peter Dennis who trains pacers and Vice President Ian Edyvean also contribute to the efforts of staging meetings successfully.

Helen highlighted a number of improvements that have occurred in recent years.

“We put up new stables, ideally we need more but we’re restricted with funding. In the last two to three months we’ve improved the fencing and built a new swab box and some wash bays.”

Coolamon’s location makes it very accessible to most trainers in the Riverina and also attracts trainers from Western New South Wales. The training facilities are ideal for other locals who venture in from nearby Ganmain and Marrar.

Ever mindful of the costs of publicity, Helen highlighted how the club advertises its meetings

“Our local advertising is through a letter box mail drop in both Coolamon and Ganmain. And we have posters on the boards coming into Coolamon”.

This year’s edition of the Coolamon Cup was taken out in grand style by the New Zealand bred Kairaki Delight (Art Major) who was having his first start in Australia. And the five year old gelding could not have been more impressive.

Smart three year old Catchafire was backed into solid favourite and was taken to the lead early by Jackson Painting who then tried to settle the field down for a breather. Meanwhile Harrison Ross on Kairaki Delight allowed his charge to settle down in the field and he took off three wide with just over a lap and half to travel.

It was obvious that in the final lap that Catchafire and Kairaki Delight would fight out the race and the two were locked together from the 400 metre mark. Showing great resilience Kairaki Delight surged clear and his experience told in the end as he had just over four metres to spare over a gallant Catchafire with Tick a Loch holding third place.  The winner returned a mile rate of 1.59.9 for the 2210 metres

KAIRAKI DELIGHT APR 25 REPLAY COOLAMON CUP

Kairaki Delight is trained by Dean Atkinson at Bungonia near Marulan and in the Goulburn district. Prior to his Coolamon Cup success Kairaki Delight had won twice in New Zealand. Cathafire was having his third attempt in a regional Cup having raced previously at Mildura and Wagga. However his turn for a Cup success will arrive in years to come as he matures.

It was still a good day for Jackson Painting as he took driving honours with a treble on Classic Beesmack (A Rocknroll Dance) and the Peter Romero trained Braebeach (Somebeachsomewhere). He capped off the day winning the final event on the programme with the consistent Thalassophobia (Fear The Dragon).

Long after the final race we can be guaranteed that Helen and her tireless band of volunteers will be there every Sunday at the trials making sure that trainers and connections are well looked after and as well at their two meetings that have been already allocated for 2026. Harness racing fans may well say “May it continue for many years to come.”

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink