Following the abandonment of the Gundagai race meeting last Saturday due to the state of the track, Racing NSW has scheduled a Sky 2 race meeting for Wagga’s Murrumbidgee Turf Club (MTC) on Saturday, July 1.
While the MTC is fresh off a successful but bustling Wagga Gold Cup carnival, the committee was more than willing to host the meeting, with the course proper in good condition considering the recent wet weather and the club’s busy racing calendar.
“It’s good for the industry; otherwise, there will be a backlog of horses wanting a race,” MTC Racecourse Manager Mark Hart said.
“We decided to hold it on the course proper because there is no drainage on the B-Grass, and with a bit of rain around on Wednesday, we thought the course proper would guarantee a meeting.”
Nominations will close at 11am Tuesday, with acceptances taken at 9am on Thursday, and plenty of gallopers will be entered for the six-race program.
Hart explained that the racecourse didn’t need much work ahead of the pop-up meeting and that it was just a matter of having everything ready for a good day of racing.
“We have just got to move the rail out. It’s at 6 metres at the moment, so it will go out a couple of metres, and other than that, there are the race day stalls, and we’ll hose them out and get that all ready,” Hart said.
“We mowed a couple of weeks ago, and there’s not a lot of mowing this time of year, so it’s pretty easy.”
Many pundits consider the MTC to be the premier racecourse in the Southern Districts, and while they race again on July 24, Hart believes his course will handle the added load.
“That other meeting is still a few weeks after this meeting, so we’ll be all right,” Hart said.
“As I said to Jason (Ferrario), if we can help out, I’d rather do it this week than next week so we can get through both days.”
For readers wanting more information on the race day, click here.
For the program, see below:
Race 1 – Benchmark 50 Handicap (1000 Metres)
Race 2 – Benchmark 50 Handicap (1200 Metres)
Race 3 – Benchmark 50 Handicap (1400 Metres)
Race 4 – Benchmark 50 Handicap (1600 Metres)
Race 5 – Maiden Plate (1000 Metres)
Race 6 – Maiden Plate (1200 Metres)
