Following in his father's footsteps
While the Cowra Jockey Club's annual Diggers Cup is always a highlight on the town's sporting calendar, this year will be all the more special.
The meet will honour four of the district's most beloved bookmakers. Jockey Club President, Peter Ford, said it was important to keep those names alive.
"It'd be nice to think that somewhere someone is sitting in a club or pub or having a bet at home, says 'I remember these blokes'," he said.
"It's also lovely for the families to catch up and talk about their loved ones who were involved with racing not only at the Cowra track but most of country NSW."
One of these men was Terry Kiely.
Terry's wife Heather said her late husband first entered into the business thanks to his father Jack, who was a bookmaker in the late 1940s and 1950s.
"Jack, obviously with all his sons, he had two sons, wanted them to work for him so that they could learn the trade," she said.
Terry then took on more responsibility, getting his own family involved, including his wife Heather.
MORE GALLERIES
"I was penciling and recording all the bets for years for him," Heather said.
"I loved working for my husband because we went to so many wonderful outback country places."
There wasn't much of country NSW the Kiely's didn't see, with the family working at races in areas like Gundagai, Dubbo, Condobolin, Grenfell, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and of course, Cowra.
"It was a wonderful lifestyle for him," Heather said.
"He thoroughly enjoyed horses and that's what it was all about, the horses and the wonderful characters that were on the course."
Terry retired after 55 years in the industry, just as bookmaking became more computerised.
"He was passionate about the old style of bookmaking, which was simply using the ledgers to record all the events," Heather said.
"That was one of the main things Terry thought was desensitising, the beautiful way and structure of the old fashioned bookmaking."
At the time of his retirement, Terry was the longest serving bookmaker in Central West NSW.
"He had never missed a Cowra race meeting and always supported the local races but to actually have been working in the area for 55 years I thought that was absolutely fantastic," Heather said.
Heather said she was "extremely delighted" for Terry to be honoured at the Diggers Cup.
"I'm very chuffed and extremely excited to think that they're going to say thank you to those men that made Cowra and made the racing pastime in Cowra a real deal," she said.