Artesian dream for Fegan clan

By Jordan Gerrans

The Artesian Express is a feature race everyone in the North West racing community dreams of winning - so much so that one local ownership group even named their syndicate in a similar vein.

The Artesian Express is an annual event at Julia Creek with $22,500 on offer in the race, which is programmed as a Class 2 Handicap over 1200 metres. 

The conditions of the race make the event unique in the sense that most feature races with increased prizemoney are for open-class gallopers.

The top sprinters in the Class 2 bracket from around the region descend on the Julia Creek Turf Club on Saturday for the time-honoured race.

The Fegan clan are a long-standing racing family in the area and they are desperate to finally clinch their hometown sprint with Great Cosmic.

Great Cosmic is raced in majority ownership by a syndicate branded ‘Artesian Racing’, which is headed by local racing man Calem Fegan, while Macey Fegan is also in the connections.

“We've been trying to win the Artesian Express for a few years now,” Calem said.

“My old boy Trevor has been involved and had horses for years and years.

“I think he was president of the Julia Creek club for 15, 20 odd years and I was always involved.

“But, it wasn't until I got a bit older that obviously we were able to get involved in buying the racehorses myself.

“So, the last probably three or four years we've been getting horses as we've always been trying to find one for the Artesian.

“But, just because you want a horse for it doesn't mean the right one pops up or there's one on sale.

“This is our first real chance as a syndicate.

“Our family has won a lot of big races over the years as owners but never the Artesian one.”

The 29-year-old Calem grew up in Julia Creek, but has relocated to Mackay for family reasons in recent years. He will make the long drive back this week to watch Great Cosmic run.

The passionate racing team have recently acquired Great Cosmic and sent the gelding to leading Mount Isa mentor Jay Morris.

In the four-year-old’s first effort in the area, Great Cosmic was a dominant winner in Benchmark 50 company at Mount Isa’s Buchanan Park as he strolled in by almost six lengths as a short-priced favourite.

The son of Cosmic Force was previously prepared by Melanie O'Gorman in New South Wales before being snapped up online by the North West-based connections.

Because of the tricky conditions of the race, it can be challenging to find the right galloper to win the Artesian Express, but Calem and his team believe they are in with a great chance this year.

“We are the next generation, but my Dad's still heavily involved,” he said.

“But, all of us kids have all got shares and our mates in town are in this horse and other ones we have got.

“That's been the goal. We got into racing and racehorses again to try and win the Artesian.

“We have been trying to win this race for a long time, so when the nominations came out, we were all doing the form to see how we stacked up."

Calem’s mother, Janene Fegan, is the Mayor of the McKinlay Shire Council, which covers the Julia Creek area.

The race is named after the Great Artesian Basin, which is an important water resource for the local area.

The Artesian Express has attracted another strong field in 2026 and Calem’s biggest worry going into Saturday’s event is Morris’ stablemate A Bar In Paris.

A Bar In Paris is also a last start winner after scoring at Cloncurry earlier this month by almost three lengths.

Morris’ two runners have been allotted equal topweight of 62.5kg, with Jason Babarovich booked to partner Great Cosmic.

The new ownership group were thrilled with Great Cosmic’s maiden performance in the area ahead of his second-up run this Saturday.

“We're stoked,” Calem said.

“Ideally, we wouldn’t be going five weeks without a run into this race. We are going from 1000 metres up to 1200 metres, so we would have preferred to have a run closer to this.

“I'd be lying if I said we didn't think we have got a good chance in the race. If we weren't in the top couple, we'd be disappointed.

“How he went first-up, we are hoping for another good performance.”

Artesian Racing also own the impressive Benevento, who Morris prepares, while they also have Weird Goodbyes with Kerry Krogh at Julia Creek.

The Artesian Express program is usually held in the middle of April, but was pushed back this year due to heavy rain.