A previous winner of the Junee Pacers Cup.
The 2026 Phoenix Accounting and Business Services Junee Pacers Cup and $10,000 Junee Prime Lamb Speed Shear took place on January 24 at Junee Showgrounds, giving a cost-effective, fun-filled day out.
Codi Rauchenberger took home the Pacers’ Cup, which means it was won by a local and trained in Leeton.
Rauchenberger spent her formative years helping out the prominent mentor of trotters, Peter Carson. She moved onto driving in pony trot races at 12, and it wasn’t long before she was driving trackwork behind the trotters.
Codi has 741 starts and of those has won 87, second in 79 and third 90 times.
Thousands of dollars were also raised thanks to the huge efforts of Saul Duck and an outstanding committee of volunteers working at the speed shear.
Sacha Bond, a three-time world record holder and trailblazer in the shearing world, attended the event. Sasha holds multiple world records in shearing, including setting the solo women’s nine-hour strong wool lamb record by shearing 720 lambs in nine hours, averaging roughly one sheep every 45 seconds.
More recently, she also set a world record for strong-wool ewes, shearing 458 in nine hours near Mossburn in Southland.
Junee Prime Lamb sponsored the event.
Additionally, there was live music by Liam Dalby, mini trotters, a mechanical bull, a jumping castle and face painting.
The Junee Pacers Cup’s roots are deeply intertwined with the town’s agricultural and sporting identity. The event has been a staple for decades, organised tirelessly by the Junee Harness Racing Club. It represents a classic example of country racing’s heart.
The event has weathered challenges, from droughts affecting horse populations to the evolving economics of regional acing. Its survival and continued popularity are a testament to the resilience of the Junee community, which rallies each year to preserve this slice of local heritage.
Tegan Judd of Junee Harness Racing Club spoke to the Junee Independent about the event.
“The day was really good. We had a nice crowd, and thankfully the weather wasn’t too hot for us,” she said. “We got lucky there. We had a pretty good turnout for the quick shear, and there was good racing all night. It was also nice to see the cup stay local.
“All the races were really good. Good, strong competitive races. They were all good fields and ended up being good finishes and things, a few of them.
“It was a good crowd, and the scene was good, and everyone seemed to be having a nice time and cheering home a few winners.
“We get every age group at the trots, which is nice. There are a lot of your older generation and then the younger ones, and then the little ones were having a great time on the bucking bull and the jumping castle.
“The weather on the day was warm, but not as bad as this week. We were lucky there that we only got to around 38 for an hour or so, and then the evening was lovely. We didn’t have any wind, and it cooled off nicely.
“It was a lot better than this week. Otherwise, we might not have been racing. Other meetings in the area this week have been called off due to the heat, so we were very lucky that we missed that.
“It’s great. It’s always a nice community event. It brings people together and gets them out. It’s always nice that people in town and from out of town get together.
“Thank you for coming out once again and supporting our small club and getting around it again, as they do year after year, which is really good.”
– Jack Murray
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