By Paula Doran
Broken Hill’s major horse racing event – the St Pat’s Races – has a new, but familiar face at the helm. Paula Doran speaks to incoming president Andrew Schmidt about his plans for the famed St Pats, and finds out what drives him at work and play.
PD: You’ve just stepped in as President of the St Pat’s Races committee, what legacy do you inherit from long-term position holder Marg Corradini?
AS: St Pat’s has been very fortunate to have had passionate and committed race club presidents from the inaugural president Gordon Ormandy in 1966 through to Marg who held the role for 21 years.
To see the club grow from its inception and how it has evolved with the changing times has been a remarkable journey, all overseen by dedicated presidents.
While Marg had a long tenure as President, we must remember she has been involved with the club since the early days and has undertaken several roles.
As with many clubs and organisations you always have your challenges and Marg has had to deal with these, ranging from washed-out race meetings, dealing with issues on race day – many of which came from holding a race meeting at an ageing facility, blocked toilets, horses not behaving, alcohol restrictions, connectivity issues with almost no phone and internet service which borders on third world, equipment breaking down, Covid-19 impacted meetings, race day staff not turning up – all these issues as President she dealt with in a professional manner.
We are very fortunate that Marg will remain on our committee, which is a huge bonus for St Pats.
PD: What’s ahead for St Pat’s 2023?
AS: We as a committee are always looking to improve our race day experience, challenges include the main one of very poor connectivity at the racecourse. To run a race meeting you must have access to phones and internet for staff, bookmakers, and patrons.
We have been working closely with council, state and federal governments, Telstra, and other user groups to alleviate this issue. If events like St Pats, Agfair, Silver City Races and camping are to continue at the racecourse there must be connectivity, or all of these events have a limited future.
We are in the process of purchasing four Starlink satellite dishes which we believe will solve the internet issues. This will enable bookmakers access and will also allow us as a club to have a mix of cash and cashless bars, food outlets, gates, and souvenirs.
As for the phone issues we have had several meetings with Council and Telstra for a mobile cell on wheels for race day, the cost is the stumbling block, but we will continue to work through a possible solution with both parties.
What we will be introducing for our 2023 event, and we have already started, is online bookings through 123 tix which will allow people to book online. In the first two days we sold more than $25k worth of bookings, with people from all over Australia purchasing tickets.
Our patrons will have two options to obtain tickets which will be to book online or direct with our office, we feel it is important to present options and give people a choice.
We received several requests from people living outside of Broken Hill wishing to purchase items from our souvenir range so we will be setting up an online shop on our website prior to Christmas with a range of items for sale.
PD: Describe your passion for St Pat’s and the Broken Hill community at large? And what would you like to contribute as president?
AS: One area I am passionate about is providing the best race day experience for the general public. We are working to bring the large screen mounted on truck back for all races to be screened, the punters club will be back, earlier this year we purchased more TVs for the betting ring, and the PA system will be overhauled.
My passion for the race club stems back to my late father, Norm, who was with St Pats for their first meeting and remained with the club until his death in 1996. He loved racing and was a long serving committee member and President of the Silver City Race Club.
He and his brothers, Les, Leo and Ray were all heavily involved in racing in Broken Hill from being administrators to owners, trainers, Les was a jockey and clerk of the course, to volunteering in a number of areas.
When St Pats formed, Dad was approached by Gordon Ormandy to join and bring his knowledge of racing to the fledging club.
PD: In both work, and in volunteer roles you’re a positive advocate for the Silver City, what drives this optimism?
AS: My take with St Pats, work and other interests such as my involvement with local football is you must be positive without wearing blinkers, you must be optimistic, and you must have good people with you and if they are volunteers, which the majority are, then you must appreciate and acknowledge their contribution no matter how big or small.
You must have a plan, you must have an objective, you must strive to do better, you must learn from the past and respect and take advice from those that have gone before you.
There are times when you will make mistakes. You must be transparent and accept them, acknowledge them and move on.
PD: And the passion for Broken Hill?
AS: I was born in BH so yes I am passionate with my home town and I love seeing things moving ahead and new innovations and developments, whether driven by Council, private business, individuals or groups and we should be proud of locals investing in their community through business or privately.
As for my working life I started on the mine when I was 17, working in surface maintenance and construction at the Zinc Corporation, went underground at 19 and spent all up 10 and a half years with the Zinc corporation working mainly at Number 3 airway.
I had a year of study in Adelaide then started in the travel game with Glen Van Pelt at Traveland in Broken Hill, I worked in travel for a decade and spent several years taking groups of local people overseas to Canada, UK, Europe, USA, South Africa, Asia. It was a fairly hectic but enjoyable time.
I went to 2BH in late 2000 for three years hosting the drive program called the Final Furlong, hosting Saturday brekky show. I was also the sales manager and for two years was station manager, during this time I also co-hosted a Friday night sport show on Southern Cross TV looking at local sport.
PD: After 19 years at the helm of ABC Local, has it ever been difficult to a) continue the positivity and b) get up so early!
AS: I started at the ABC in July 2003 and I love the brekky slot, the alarm goes off at 4:30am but it is the best time of the day – in my opinion – to be on air, I have worked with some very dedicated and talented people,
I feel if you are on air you must be local and report and present local content. You must be upbeat, ask the appropriate questions that listeners want to hear and be in sync with your listeners, that is know your audiences and what is relevant to them. But above all have some fun.
