GUINEA PIG RACES

Situated in the Weddin Shire in central New South Wales is the historic township of Grenfell. Many of the buildings of the main street support lacework and veranda posts, which give the town a relaxed country charm. Originally known as Emu Creek, it is the birthplace of one of Australia’s most famous poets and short-story writer Henry Lawson. Grenfell celebrates its famous son every June long weekend with the holding of the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts. The festival includes poetry and drama, craft and photography exhibitions, a street parade and carnival, go-kart races, wood chopping events and food and wine in abundance. However the highlight of the festival, for me, is the Guinea Pig Race Meeting.

The start of one of the sprint races with competitor getting a little encouragement.

About 30 minutes out of Grenfell is the only registered guinea pig racing club in the world: the Pinnacle Guinea Pig Racing Club. It has its own facilities and its own racetrack. There is a stadium with tiered seating, and a racetrack where guinea pigs compete in the sprint or hurdle races. The club holds an annual race meetings on the Sunday of the June long weekend. The race meeting is conducted by volunteers and all money raised goes to local charities. 

The 'gentry' picnic in the carpark.

The race meeting attracts visitors from around the world and across Australia. When I attended there was a couple who had travelled from America just to attend the race meeting they had heard so much about. There were also visitors from Western Australia and South Australia as well as all the eastern states. Although ‘country dress’ is the most popular, there were many who took the excuse to dress in their finest race-day fashions. Many groups also produced the bubbly and picnic spread beside the land rover in the carpark which gave the event an atmosphere probably only rivaled by the Melbourne Cup.

The hopeful 'Master of Ceremony'.

There were a number of events during the day. Bookies took bets, though these were often for only 50 cents or a dollar and usually paid 2 to 1 no matter whether the winner was a favourite or a complete outsider. Most of the owners appeared to be children, but I am sure this was only a tactic by ruthless guinea pig owners and serious trainers to lull their opponents into underestimating them. The races began at a furious pace, with the guinea pigs being followed by the young owners, and the official course motivator, encouraging bewildered animals to run the complete length of the track.

The stadium.

In all it was a fun day with a real family and country atmosphere. The event was made even more entertaining by the female 'master of ceremonies', dressing fashionably in painted gum boots and a fur coat, and the male race-caller as they tried to find a date for the 'mc' from all the single men in the crowd. This led to much embarrassment from the single men and terrific crowd participation and laughter. It is a country event that needs to be experienced at least once, but for which you will return time and time again.

'The bookie'

'The encourager'

An obvious guinea pig talent scout.

A young owner.

Gold and silver guinea pig trophies.

BIGGER THAN BEN-HUR

A Roman signifer.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was a novel written in 1880 by American Lew Wallace. It is set in 26AD and tells the story of Prince Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy merchant born in Jerusalem. As the play opens he is reunited with his childhood friend, Messala, who is the commander of the Roman garrison occupying Jerusalem. Although they are happy to see each other again they are soon pushed apart by local politics. Ben-Hur is arrest and exiled into slavery. He serves in a Roman galley where he saves the life of a prominent Roman and is eventually adopted by him. Ben-Hur returns to his homeland where he drives in a chariot race against Messala. Messala is killed in the race but not before revealing that Ben-Hur's mother and sister are in a leper colony. All this is set against the religious story of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Roman soldiers at a well in the desert.

The novel was made into a silent movie in 1907 and again in 1925. In 1959 MGM again made it into a movie. The epic movie starred Charlton Heston and was on such an enormous scale that it has given rise to the saying "bigger than Ben-Hur". The film won eleven Oscar awards and is one of the most successful films ever made. In 2003 an animated version was created, and in 2010 a television mini-series. It has also been turned into a Broadway play. In 2006 Ben-Hur was turned into a live production at the Stade de France, a football stadium in Paris. In October 2010 the production was brought from France to the ANZ stadium in Sydney where it ran for two nights.

A gladiator fight.

The Sydney performance ran for 10 scenes, including an attack on a Roman galley, a gladiator fight and the famous chariot race. The performance lasted for just under two hours and was narrated by Russel Crowe. There were more than 200 cast members, 24 horses, 750 costumes and some amazing props used to recreate the action in Jerusalem, at sea, in the Roman Colosseum and the chariot arena in Antioch. Many of the cast and crew were from the French production but a number of local stars also assumed roles. Actor David Callan became the games master, while sports stars, such as Brett Kimmorley, Blocker Roach, Ian Roberts (all Rugby League) and Billy Brownless and Danny Frawley (AFL) played cameo roles. Amazingly also appearing in the performance was Giulio Pezzutti, a 76 year old resident from Fairfield West. Giulio, at age 19 had been an extra in the Charlton Heston movie in 1959.

A guest takes centre stage as the Emperor.

Before the performance on Saturday night some guests were entertained at the Emperor's feast. This was held at the stadium and hosted by Radio personality Alan Jones.Guests were also entertained by David Callan before dinning on eschallot tarte tatin with goat curd, crusted lamb and baked ricotta in true Roman fashion. The hall was decorated to suit the event and there were many extras and characters in Roman costume. One guest upstaged everyone by looking the part when he appeared in an amazing "Emperor's costume".

Chariots prepare for the big race.

The highlight of the show for many people was the chariot race involving six four-horse chariots. Most people in this day and age will never get to see a chariot race. The event was faithfully and painstakingly recreated in the stadium. The horses were 'auditioned', selected and trained by renowned Australian horse trainer Tony Jablonski. Tony has had more than 35 years working with horses in the entertainment industry but is probably best known for his work as the Horse Master of the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2000. Tony trained and put the horses through their paces at his Queensland facility before moving them to the ANZ stadium. The horse teams moved around the arena at an exciting pace which raised a cheer from the large crowd.

Roman efficiency.....clearing the arena.

The event was something very remarkable. It was the first time the Stade de France performance has been performed in english. At the stadium a performance area of 15,000 sqm was created. More than 2,500 tonnes of dirt had been used to cover a base of crushed bricks and red roof tiles in order to create an arena suitable for the chariot race. Digging up and replacing the dirt cost approximately $1.5 million dollars. Some estimates have put the cost of the whole production at around $15 million dollars. The Stade de France will offer more events to the ANZ stadium over the next four years.

The Roman galley.

The novel Ben-Hur was a best seller. It was the first work of fiction to be blessed by a Pope, being blessed by Pope Leo XIII.

Alan Jones.

Finale of the chariot race.