The Carrathool Races kicked up a storm both on and off the race-course, with punters from around the world making the trip to the town for the Jockey Club's 137th annual race meeting.
More than 1500 people passed through the gates on Saturday to watch six nail-biting races as well as enjoy activities and entertainment through the day and well into the evening.
On the track, it was a case of history repeating itself for the Rivcott Carrathool Cup, with Griffith owner and trainer Russell Hogan taking out the cup for the second straight year with his horse Cooee March.
The victory was the first time a horse had claimed back-to-back Carrathool Cups since 2004, with jockey Michael Heagney riding the horse to his third win in eight years.
Wagga Wagga trainer Trevor Sutherland saw his horse Real Key finish in the runner-up position, falling 0.36 lengths behind in a tightly contested finish.
Mr Hogan said he was pleased to retain the cup for another year and put it down to Cooee March's favouring of dirt-tracks.
"He's just a class above them on the dirt," Mr Hogan said.
"He's just a lovely honest horse and he just tries his heart out every time he goes out.
"You don't get them like this everyday and you've just got to look after them when you get them."
Elsewhere there were wins for Bye Bye Benji, Highway To Success, Barkala, Skob Bloom and The Presenter.
However, horses were not the only ones hitting the Carrathool track, with the Jackaroo Dash and Jillaroo Sprint moving onto the field after the final race of the day.
Coleambally's Luke Hogan took out his first ever Jackaroo Dash in a closely-contested race, while Carrathool's Charlee Masters reclaimed the Jillaroo title after previously losing it in a tight finish in 2019.
One thing which was did not go unnoticed was the large sea of yellow shirts worn during the Jackaroo Dash, with the races becoming the get-together spot of a large group of people celebrating Louis Boyd's 25th birthday.
Mr Boyd works as a commercial pilot in Newcastle and he said he convinced his friends to come out to Carrathool for the event off the back of a recommendation from a co-worker.
"He [the co-worker] said you have to go to Carrathool - the runway is in the middle of the racecourse and I'm like that's good enough for me!" Mr Boyd joked.
Mr Boyd said the decision to don all-yellow stemmed from a previous race meeting experience at Birdsville where he and three friends wore yellow for the entire event.
"By the end of the three days everyone knew who we were," Mr Boyd said.
"If four is good enough, 50 is good enough for Carrathool."
"I'm appreciative of all my mates coming out, some of them have driven over nine hours."
Also making the long trip to visit friends was Gerald Govier - who flew over from Somerset in England to make his third appearance at the races along with his cousin and friends.
One of Mr Govier's friends Garry Noonan said the stop at the races was the culmination of a road-trip across the eastern states.
"We always come up - not every 12 months but nearly every 12 months - to the races from Victoria," Mr Noonan said.
"Gerald comes out probably every second or third year... he's going home [next week] to minus nine!"
Racing Secretary of the Carrathool Jockey Club Boo Harvey said she was "thrilled" with how this year's event turned out.
"It's a really good day for Carrathool," Ms Harvey said.
"Crowd numbers were up significantly, i'd say well over 1500 people... that's up a lot on recent years and we've got a lot travelling [in].
"The track raced really well... it was an exciting result in the cup with Russell Hogan and Cooee March doing twice in a row.
"I think everyone's had a great day... [it] just goes to show what a great little committee and community can do.
"Carrathool is back!"
This article first appeared in the Area News
