THE FRONT BOOT

Longreach jockey Robert Faehr rode to a come-from-behind victory on the Philip Cole-trained thoroughbred Saccharo , securing a first Birdsville Cup win for both jockey and trainer on September 4 .

Toppling a quality seven-horse field , the connections of Saccharo nabbed the winner ’ s portion of a $ 42,000 prize purse , plus a $ 5000 trainer bonus for Mr Cole .

“ I was overwhelmed heading through the straight when I skipped to the front . I had tears in my eyes because I knew I had it ,” Mr Faehr said . “ I ’ ve been to Birdsville five or six times and never won . I ’ ve won in Betoota and Bedourie , so it ’ s great to get a win here . My son and I arrived here at 4am on Thursday and we couldn ’ t believe the rain .”

This year , the Birdsville Races raised more than $ 30,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service . As part of the festivities , legendary outback showman Fred Brophy offered his prized Akubra hat , which he had worn to the Birdsville Races for more than 40 years , for auction to raise funds for the local Birdsville school , raising $ 2600 .

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