Breeding & Racing Magazine

Racing Resumes On Geelong ThoroughTrack

Racing will return to the Geelong ThoroughTrack today "in a year that will determine the fate of synthetic-track racing in Victoria," reported The Herald-Sun. Stewards Allan Reardon & Bruce McGinley yesterday "gave the green light for racing to return after watching 2 trials with fields of 5 & 6". Reardon said they had spoken to track riders & trainers before the trials & taken feedback from the trial riders & "they all said the horses were comfortable & there was no kick-back." The Geelong ThoroughTrack (which has not staged a meeting since October 7) was dug up more than a month ago to install 2 new drains. This is the 1st of 27 Geelong ThoroughTrack meetings to be held this year through to September. Late last year, Racing Victoria commissioned a report into why 7 horses received fatal injuries in the initial 37 meetings on the track. The RV board last month received the report (compiled by RV chief vet Paul O'Callaghan & projects-facilities manager Hamish Scott) & RV racing manager Paul Bloodworth said the report "stated there was insufficient data to draw any definitive conclusions from 1.5 seasons of ThoroughTrack racing". The board "decided to study this year's Geelong ThoroughTrack results & those at other synthetic tracks (Sunshine Coast & Canberra) before making conclusions"; meanwhile it has "put on hold any move to build a new synthetic track". Bloodworth commented: "We will keep assessing the ThoroughTrack throughout this season. We won't be committing to another one until we have a bigger sample size of meetings to look at."