This month we had a day trip to the Wagga Wagga races, and a visit to the Kooringal Stud that is just outside Wagga.
Once on the bus we had our traditional warm ham croissants for breakfast, washed down with a glass of champagne or two. We then stopped for morning tea in the sunshine at Gundagai. According to Google (that knows everything apparently) we stopped for exactly 36 minutes. A highlight of the stop was that we celebrated Les' birthday with a cake.
Before going to the races, we stopped at Kooringal Stud (that Google tells me is at Junee). We were shown around the extensive property by Stuart Lamont, one of the Stud Principals. He shared the history of the property that has been in his family for several generations and explained how they have diversified into sheep, canola and wheat. We visited the breeding shed and the stalls where the recent foals and their mothers were housed - they keep them contained until the foals are strong enough to go into the paddocks.
While there, Mick & Jan James, and Bob and Lyn Barlow were introduced to the sire The Brothers War who hopefully has earnt his stud fee with their horse Knucklemania.
We continued on to the Murrumbidgee Turf Club, arriving at 12:34pm (thanks, Google). There was a very large turnout at the racecourse as it was Uni Day, with uni students from near and far attending. We were told later that the attendance was about 6,500 and that the racecourse was about to run out of food and drink.
Because we had a larger than expected number of people on the trip, the budget was able to be extended to provide lunch for us all. We had a reserved undercover area and a great lunch of barbecued steak, sausages, and salads.
The weather couldn't have been better, and we all had a great time. We were back in Canberra at about 9pm.
A slideshow of the day is below. As usual, if you can't see the slideshow, click here.
