Ewan continues to go from strength to strength

Ewan has long been one of the more popular meetings on the bush circuit and the North Queensland club is continuing to reinvent itself and maintain its status.

A total of 13 races were run across the two days of the Ewan carnival on the last Friday and Saturday in September.

The Friday meeting was broadcast as a TAB meeting across the Sky Racing network and was headlined by a Country Stampede qualifier, which was claimed by the Cairns-trained Yes Dream.

The Ewan Cup was also held on Friday and boasted an attractive $30,000 in prizemoney for the event.

Cairns’ Peter Rowe, who trains alongside his father Trevor, believes Ewan is one of the best weekends on the racing calendar.

“Anyone who hasn't been there needs to put it on their bucket list,” Peter Rowe said. 

“You know, people talk about how good Birdsville is and that kind of stuff.

“For us, it's just one of the best weekends in racing. We had a great camp and we took 14 runners out.

“We got four winners, a bucket load of placings and we were lucky enough to take trainer of the meet out. It was just, it's racing, quality racing at a bush track, basically.

“People can say it's the middle of nowhere, but you had your Townsville horses going out there and the prizemoney's amazing. The hospitality is second to none.

“The committee do an amazing job. I think it was our 10th year and we'll continue to go out there as long as it's that good.” 

The Ewan Amateur Turf Club has been racing for more than 100 years.

The track is based inland from Townsville.

Despite the club’s longevity in the racing industry, they are still aiming to keep evolving.

On Friday during the TAB meeting, the club was one of the first in regional Queensland to utilise a virtual billboard rollout, which helped the meeting be more commercial and support sponsors. 

Virtual billboards are regularly used at South East Queensland tracks such as the Sunshine Coast for thoroughbred meetings and Albion Park for harness meetings, among other clubs.

Aircool Industries was just one of several Ewan sponsors who benefited from the new digital signage and Peter Stallard from the business praised the new initiative.

“It is a credit to the Ewan Amateur Turf Club to have the vision to introduce virtual signage to their race meeting,” Stallard said.

“As a business servicing a large part of northern and western Queensland providing cold room panel solutions for both refrigeration and building, air conditioning and electrical services to our valued clients - it was great to be able to advertise our business on this national platform.

“It is amazing to receive feedback from our clients that they saw Aircool advertised as part of the Ewan races coverage. 

“It would seem this is a cost-effective way to be able to market our business to a broader audience whilst supporting one of our most iconic local events - it is a real win-win for all of us.

“Having dipped our toe in the water this year, we see this as a productive way to market and we will be looking to utilise further opportunities on this platform on a case-by-case basis.

“It is great to see Ewan looking for ways to value add to their sponsors outside of the traditional methods.”

Ewan Amateur Turf Club President David Woodhouse grew up in the area and has never missed a meeting.

After hosting its maiden TAB race program in 2021, Woodhouse says the popularity and interest in the carnival has only risen since.

“We've been racing for over 100 years now and it's really grown in the last probably five to eight years into the event it is now,” Woodhouse said.

“It does take a bit of organising. I'm probably the beneficiary. We've got a really good committee and our volunteers and members do a fantastic job during the year.

“But, there are some big working days and a lot of time that goes into it.”

The Ewan races were a sell-out in 2026, with thousands of people camping at the venue for the weekend.

“We have a big focus on being family-friendly, we get 500 to 600 kids there, so trying to keep them entertained for several days is a task in itself,” Woodhouse said.

“We're about 140 kilometres west of Townsville and 120 kilometres north of Charters Towers.

“It's a racetrack on the banks of Stockyard Creek and that's all that is there.

“So, everything we do comes into there and leaves there.

“It goes from a population of one being a caretaker before the event and then back to a population of one again after the races.”