While down slightly on 2023 attendances, Dubbo Turf Club General Manager Sam Fitzgerald believes the crowd of about 4000 at their Golden Eagle Derby Day in November hits the sweet spot.

With only the Monday, December 9, and Saturday, December 21, meetings to wrap-up a busy calendar year, Sam was only too happy to point out to Dubbo Photo News the racing highlights for 2024 and his plans for next year.

This year’s Golden Eagle and Derby Day turn-out, plus the Big Dance and Melbourne Cup Day’s thousand-odd crowds, were marquee days on the annual racing calendar.

Speaking just after both events, Mr Fitzgerald revealed that a year’s worth of planning goes into these race days.

“Both events are important milestones each year for the club,” Sam said.

“They are busy days, but certainly extremely worthwhile endeavours for the club, not just from a financial standpoint, but also upholding what has now become a very strong tradition that the club has hosted for over 30 years.”

How is race-day success defined?

Asked what markers are used to evaluate success, he pointed to three factors, race-day experience, safety, and finances.

“First and foremost, it's whether we have hosted a safe and responsible event,” he said.

“From secondary standpoint, it's the financial benefits for the club, this year, we're realistic, the numbers were down slightly on previous years.”

The club is no Robinson Crusoe in that regard, he added.

 “I think that's probably a culmination of the current economy, and people having to rethink where they spend their disposable income.

“But certainly from, from the initial reconciliations that we've done, the events were very positive.”

The Golden Eagle and Derby Day turn-out was down around 12 per cent on last year but, he said, a crowd of 4000 people is optimal for visitor experience.

“It is a more manageable crowd for the club — 4000 people ensures a space for people to relax and enjoy the day and be able to get a drink and access services,” Sam said.  

While Melbourne Cup day is the race that stops a nation, it is still a work day for most in NSW, and Mr Fitzgerald was happy to broach four figures in attendance.

“It was another great day — a little bit of a change of pace compared to Golden Eagle and Derby Day.  

“We had a shade over 1000 this year, which was good. Again, down slightly on last year.

“And again, we’re realistic — it is a week-day, however we were pleased with the outcome.”

The work never stops at Dubbo Turf Club

Straight after the Big Dance and Melbourne Cup meeting was finished, the annual summer track renovation began.

“As soon as the horses came off the track after the race day trials, our Racecourse Management Team where on the track with mowers readying the grass for the renovation.

“We then conducted a rigorous dethatch, before the laborious verti-draining process. Some rain, plenty of sunshine, plus fertilizer, biology and treatments will have the grass up and moving very quickly.

In the days subsequent, DTC also took delivery of a brand-new set of barriers and 2500 metres of brand-new PVC running rail to be installed before the December meetings.

A new fibre sand training surface was also built this year.

“The (training) track is performing quite well. It is like any new piece of infrastructure - you have to understand how it performs, learn to maintain it and see how it reacts to different climatic conditions,” Sam said. 

“We're really happy with it. It's a great surface.”

Nice Christmas meetings coming in December   

The DTC is also full steam ahead preparing for the December 9 and December 21 meetings.

“Both are terrific days. We've already got a couple Christmas parties booked in for a couple of businesses (for December 9).

“And then, (December 21) is our primary Christmas meeting, and it's a meeting that's been growing every year.

“Last year, we had a tremendous turnout, about 1500 people, despite some wet weather.

“The meeting is ideally programmed the Saturday before Christmas. So we'll get that crossover of people finishing work, people coming home for Christmas, people looking for something to do a few days out from Christmas.”

The Queen of the West set to be even bigger in 2025

In a year of racing highlights, the continual emergence of the Arrowfield Queen of the West which attracted around 1500 people to Dubbo Turf Club on Saturday, May 25, was a stand-out.

The feature race, a Benchmark 82 event over 1200-metres for fillies and mares, was worth $50,000. “Deep Rogue” (at $6) was this year’s winner.

“It'll be our premier event in a couple of years. The crowd was up by 30 per cent this year, which is really positive,” Sam said.

“I think the key thing with this day is that it's quality rather than quantity.

“We are offering a premium product, and it's supported by really good racing, which is headlined by that Queen of the West race.”

In 2025, the DTC aims to attract 2000 people to this event, with an optimal race date of Saturday, April 12.

“The race itself is attracting some really quality mares, and I think the day we have been allocated in 2025 will be perfect from a race programming perspective for trainers,” Sam said.

“It also opens it up to growing the footprint of the concept even further, because the challenges that we've had in the past – being that we are competing with winter sport and people on tractors sowing crops in May – are removed by the mid-April date.

“I think we've found a nice balance in 2025.”

More live music, a DJ and even an after-party may be on the cards for 2025, as well as aiming to attract a higher quality of mare looking outside of the Sydney Autumn Carnival or that could be on a path to the Brisbane winter carnival.

Initially, Racing NSW allocated Dubbo a Saturday race-date in May that coincided with a National Rugby League (NRL) fixture being played at Apex Oval on the Sunday, which brought an influx of people to town.

However, Dubbo hasn’t hosted an NRL regular season competition match since 2022.

“We had to find an idea that we could attract people and develop a concept that would allow us to keep that Saturday date moving forward,” Sam said.

The Queen of the West and Ladies Day concept was born to attract quality female horses for the Arrowfield Queen of the West race, as well as combine Dubbo’s best hospitality providers and creatives to attract a new demographic of racegoers, he concluded.