The time-honoured Ardlethan picnic meeting, scheduled for Saturday, March 22, is set to have a new home in 2025, with Narrandera Race Club to host the popular race day.
Racing on the banks of the Mirrool Creek, Ardlethan conducts one of the most well-attended picnic race days in NSW, but the need for a running rail to enclose the track has prevented the club’s meeting from going ahead.
Racing NSW has the running rail ready to be installed after the governing body organised its availability via the Murrumbidgee Turf Club.
Still, with the land on which Ardlethan races still up for sale and the racecourse’s future up in the air, the required running rail has not been installed.
Ardlethan’s committee could have chosen to host a phantom race day. Still, with participants in mind, they sought another alternative, with Narrandera Race Club happy to lend a helping hand.
“Ardlethan is very much part of our local community and the people that have lived and worked around here, went to school and played football against each other, and at the end of the day, it comes down to country people supporting country people,” said Narrandera Race Club Racing Manager Michael Bailey.
“Racing is the number one thing, and we have a facility that local, hard-working people have put together, and we’ll do anything to see racing continue.
“It’s a public facility that needs to be used, and we would race a lot more times a year if we could, so being able to help Ardlethan makes a lot of sense for us.”
Bailey, who himself has raced horses and attended the Ardlethan meeting, reiterated that it was still Ardlethan Picnic Races’ big day and that his committee were there to simply help facilitate the race day.
“It’s totally their day, and they’re running the whole show,” Bailey said.
“We’ll have to work closely with them with the day’s logistics, and we’re working through all that with their secretary, Lou Clemson.
“We just want to be supportive and help them host a good race day. Obviously it’s very disappointing and I hope they can get back to racing next year, but for now, this is the best alternative.”
Clemson was disappointed to break the news last week but pleased to have the support of Narrandera Race Club, which ensures the popular meeting proceeds.
“We didn’t want to cancel and abandon, so we looked at our options,” Clemson told the Daily Advertiser.
“At the committee meeting last week, we decided on another venue just so we could continue the race this year.
“Narrandera kindly put up their hands, and they’ve been absolutely marvellous support of racing and our race club.
“We’ve managed to come up with a plan to race this year. It’s not going be the same, but we’re doing everything we can to make it a great day out.”
While Clemson was disappointed for the Ardlethan and surrounding communities that benefited greatly from their race day, the club is working on options to have bus services from Ardlethan and Wagga for racegoers to utilise.
Readers are encouraged to follow the Ardlethan and Narrandera socials for all updates.
The $10,000 Ardlethan Picnic Cup (1600m) will still headline the program.
