Moree Race Club has dealt with its fair share of bad luck in recent seasons.
In March of 2021, a flood devastated the region before another flooding event in October of 2022, which saw the racetrack, grandstand, and office infrastructure inundated with water for a second time in just 19 months.
Add to that the impacts of the COVID pandemic, and it’s been tough-going, with Moree losing out on their 2021 and 2022 Moree Cup programs and back-to-back October race meetings.
Still, a hard-working committee has pushed through to make sure they can race again this season, with Moree set to host a seven-race program on Thursday, which will be the first of five big race days in the remainder of 2023.
“We have taken the opportunity in January to complete a reasonable track renovation and hopefully disperse the silt, so we don’t lose future race meetings again,” said Moree Race Club Secretary Michelle Gobbert.
“The track is looking the best it has for some time thanks to this and a much-needed track irrigation system upgrade last year, so we are hoping for some good racing in 2023.
“We have our Cup meeting on Sunday, September 3, along with a Charity Dinner for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter the night before, and then our Twilight Races leading into Christmas on Saturday, December 16 – a huge community race day and boost to the local economy.”
It hasn’t been a walk in the park, though, with Gobbert touching on some of the associated challenges in getting the Moree racecourse back up and running.
“Dealing with the insurance assessor in the first flood took almost eight months before he could tell us exactly what was and wasn’t covered, even though I had been through the same process in Nov 2011 and Feb 2012,” Gobbert said.
“Each flood is different; however, there is always major damage to our dirt training tracks and a huge clean-up job.
“We don’t get any help from Racing NSW, as they don’t have insurance flood cover; however, there is always a push from them to get our tracks and training facilities up and running for our trainers ASAP.
“Fortunately, we have been able to financially back ourselves until the insurance payments have been forthcoming – albeit very slowly.
“We still have outstanding repairs from both floods as trying to obtain quotes from businesses that were just coming out of COVID, and now with the staffing shortages and amount of work, that is proving a challenge.”
Flooding is part and parcel of living and working in the Moree region, and the race club was as prepared as they could have been leading into the most recent event, with Gobbert touching on the preparations and the subsequent work completed. Hence, they are ready to race this coming Thursday.
“Living on the plains gives us one advantage in that we usually have a bit of planning time when a flood is coming,” Gobbert said.
“Part of the process is lifting things, and for both floods, we lifted as much as possible, and for the second flood, we were able to do this very effectively in the week preceding the flood.
“The initial clean-up after a flood has to be done immediately when the mud is still wet and can be washed off easily.
“On the first occasion, we were fortunate to have crews from both Trans4m Rail and Graincorp help with the immediate clean-up of removing everything and pressure cleaning, and then Graincorp again for the Oct 2022 flood.
“In October, we were able to access a commercial carpet cleaning business, who came in literally 6-8 hours after the water subsided.
“This meant we didn’t have to pull up the carpet throughout the rooms in the bottom of the grandstand, including the secretary’s office, committee room, stewards room, jockeys rooms and bar area.”
The course proper has bounced back quite well, and with good drying weather coupled with hard-working club members, the training facilities were back up and running right after the flood.
“Then it was a matter of waiting for it all to dry out. Our track manager was able to get the horse pool operational within a week, and the cinders training track up and running within two weeks, and the grass following shortly after,” Gobbert said.
“A lot of effort was put into prioritising this, and the benefit of a flood in October is that the weather is hot, whereas in March, you are going into the cooler months, and everything takes longer to dry out.
“The big thing for most country race clubs is that they have a few employees and after the initial flood and help people go back to their own lives, and the rest of the work is left to a very small crew.”
In a credit to Moree Race Club‘s committee, that small crew will cater for an extensive race program on Thursday, with 109 acceptances on the seven-race card.
Racing kicks off at 12.35pm, and for fields, click here.
Upcoming Moree race dates
– Thursday, May 18 – TAB meeting
– Thursday, August 3 – TAB meeting
– Sunday, September 3 – Moree Cup
– Friday, November 3 – TAB meeting
– Saturday, December 16 – Christmas Twilights
