Kayleigh Barnham aspires to enter apprentice jockey ranks.

In fact the official BOM readings for Monday August 12 through and including Wednesday, August 13 totalled 162.6mm of rain.

Officially, over those three days Rockhampton’s Callaghan Park racecourse copped just over 96mm.

I was one of a myriad of Doubting Thomasses given the drenching that the city received and even accounting  Callaghan Park “only” received 😅 four inches of rain, I seriously doubted that the RJC race meeting last Thursday (August 15) would proceed.

However, I was wrong and am the first to happily admit it, though I was far from the only one holding that opinion.

Not only did the meeting proceed but it went ahead on a track officially rated a Heavy 8.

During the course of the meeting I spoke to the Chairman of Stewards in control of the meeting, the senior and highly experienced steward Shane Larkins.

He too admitted with the heavy rain leading up to Thursday he seriously doubted the meeting would go ahead.

“Honesty, I rated it 1000 to 1 being able to race on it after Tuesday’s falls and continuing through the night. I am amazed at how well it is racing. We (stewards) rated it a Heavy 8 earlier today (Thursday) but I feel it is better than that. I have asked jockeys but they feel it is a true reading particularly so closer the inside rail so we are going with that,” Shane Larkins told me just after 3pm.

Not surprisingly, in most races and cases jockeys scouted their mounts wide from the home turn to the winning post. Even so, on the record they expressed  their surprise at just how well the Callaghan Park turf track raced. It was certainly a blessing in disguise that the false rail was out 6.5 metres. Regardless, the track from my observations certainly raced better than a Heavy 8 and I concur with Shane Larkins’ thinking.

Less than 19 hours after the conclusion of Thursday’s meeting, some 42 horses ran in trials and jump-out heats on the very same track.

In fact Callaghan Park was the only “midweek” track to race in Queensland last week after Beaudesert (Monday), Gatton (Tuesday) and Ipswich (Wednesday) were washed out. That’s a feather in the cap for Rockhampton racing.

How often do you see it in racing families that the children have aspirations to follow in the footsteps of their parents? By that I mean in a racing career.

Rockhampton’s Kayleigh Barnham 17, the daughter of retired jockey Mark Barnham and trainer Julieann Lancaster is the latest addition. Kayleigh has been riding trackwork at Callaghan Park for some months now.  This came about after she was “schooled” by her parents before they permitted her to step up the ladder to riding work at the track.  Always a horse lover and graduating from the pony riding ranks, Kayleigh down the track would like to become an apprentice jockey.

Callaghan Park trainer Kevin Miller, who has always been a great supporter of young apprentice jockeys, speaks highly of Kayleigh.

“Naturally at this early stage I am just putting Kayleigh on my quiet ones and she is handling them well,” Miller said.

During a jockeying career that commenced in 1992 at Gladstone and ended in September 2022, Mark Barnham rode  at least 800 or even more winners. Interestingly, he rode 10 of those winners for trainer  Kevin Miller. Now that Callaghan Park trainer is playing a role in helping to establish Mark and Julieann’s daughter’s career in racing.

Callaghan Park trained horses are heading off in all directions this week. First of all,  29 are heading up the Bruce Highway to race at Mackay on Thursday (tomorrow). I am certain folks if you go through the form and fields for the Mackay TAB races you will pick winners from among the Rocky band up there. Repeatedly over recent seasons Callaghan Park trainers and their runners have won the majority of races each time the Mackay Turf Club race. Further north at Cairns on Saturday, where the $150K Cup is staged, we are represented as well. Jared Wehlow has Major Artie in the Cup; Clinton Taylor has Kick On Command in that race while he will also be represented by Single Memo and Viennawaitsforyou in other races. As well, Ricky Vale has Parade Ground and Pipistrelle running at Cairns.

Closer to home, some 148km to be exact, 32 Rocky horses are entered to start at the colossal Dingo Race Club annual “Dingo Trap Throwing” race meeting. Recent impressive barrier trial winners at Callaghan Park (Clinton Taylor’s Janean and Graeme Green’s Tekopo) are among the nominations. Hundreds of Rockhampton racing supporters annually make the trip to Dingo for the meeting which is expected to attract at least 1500 to 2000 spectators. Already southern caravaners are camped out near the track for their annual pilgrimage to the unique race day. Good luck Dingo Race Club.

Finally, Callaghan Park trainer Nick Walsh is southern bound on Saturday with his flying pair of recent winners Hell and Queen Assassin for races at Doomben. Hell is dual nominated. Both are expected to perform well. So Rocky punting followers from this page, start sharpening up on the form for the remainder of the week.

Rockhampton bookmaker Vince Aspinall fielded at what he described as a “massive” phantom race meeting at Middlemount last Saturday. As you will recall the Middlemount Race Club’s annual meeting was washed out earlier in the week because of rain. However, the community minded mining town supported the day big time with 1200 patrons rolling up. “It was amazing really. My hold was almost as much as what I held at the Gladstone Cup races the previous Saturday. The race club secretary told me even after the announcement of the washout, she received an extra 60 or 70 bookings on the Friday, the day before the races,” Vince Aspinall reported.

Don’t forget the Rocky races next Thursday at Callaghan Park racecourse on August 29. Should be a great days racing.

Happy Horses everyone – Tony McMahon.

Pictured: Nick Walsh heads to Doomben on Saturday with recent winners Hell (pictured) and  Queen Assassin.

Photo Credit: Nick Walsh Racing.