One of the biggest jobs involved with the preparation to the St Patrick’s Races was tackled with an added degree of passion over the weekend by a group of players and officials from North Football Club.
Turning up in numbers to clean out the stables ahead of the Saturday, March 16 race meeting, the day had an added meaning to it also, as the club did so to support one of their own, Adam Slattery, who is facing a series of health battles with life-threatening leukemia.
“Adam has been undergoing treatment since late last year and we decided to do something to show our support to him”, North Football Club President, Jay Robins, said.
As part of the stable clean-up, St Pat’s will give a donation to the football club, which will be matched by Broken Hill Toyota, with the money going to Adam and his family to assist with the cost of his treatment in Adelaide.
“It is great for us as a football club to show our support to the Slattery family and help St Pat’s as well. We are grateful to the Race Club and Justin [Hoskins] at Broken Hill Toyota for their backing and generosity.”
With the 59th annual race meeting just one week away, St Pat’s Overseer, Michael McKee, says the task of cleaning the stables and having the football club on site was a huge bonus with work ramping up at Broken Hill Racecourse.
“They were great. We were fortunate North put their hand up. Steven Tucket lent us his tractor and Steve Radford provided the bobcat and shavings. Without community support such as this, events such as ours would not be possible,” Mr McKee said.
“Our focus is now the track and we have already completed our initial track inspection for Racing NSW. Our team will step up the tempo in the next few days. There are a few areas where we need to apply more sand; the graders and water trucks will be in action. Track Manager, Rusty Baiton, has his maintenance schedule in place, one we have followed now for a few years.”
The 59th annual St Patrick’s Races takes place on Saturday, March 16 at the Broken Hill Racecourse. For more information and to book tickets, visit https://stpatricks.org.au.
