Ballarat racecourse reopening put on hold

Tuesday 8 July 2014, 4:49pm

Problems associated with removing a dip in the home straight have forced the postponement of the reopening of the Ballarat racecourse.

The track underwent a $1.5 million refurbishment after last year's Ballarat Cup meeting with the removal of the dip a key part of the work.

Racing was set to resume at Ballarat on June 1 but overnight rain forced the abandonment of the meeting before Racing Victoria switched the club's June 19 fixture to Donald.

However, problems associated with the remodelling of the home straight have caused RV and the Ballarat Turf Club to delay the reopening of the course further with repair work to be done in September.

Ballarat is now scheduled to resume racing on October 8 with the club's upcoming meetings moved to the Geelong Synthetic track, Wangaratta, Echuca, Warrnambool and Murtoa.

RV and the BTC expect the track to be able to host the Ballarat Cup on November 22, which will be run as part of a Saturday metropolitan meeting for the first time.

RV's general manager of infrastructure Jamie McGuinness said a hot spell in late summer led to the track becoming more compacted than anticipated.

The compaction led to the area around the former dip being unable to absorb rain as required and McGuinness conceded RV and the BTC had erred in attempting to resume racing during winter.

"In hindsight it was the wrong call to return at this time," McGuinness said.

"The issue was highlighted after the first major rainfall event prior to the scheduled return on June 1 which resulted in surface water on the day.

"The situation in the home straight is in contrast to the remainder of the track which required fewer earthworks and is absorbing rainfall as required."

McGuinness said the situation has prompted a change in RV's policy with the organisation to no longer schedule tracks to resume after major reconstruction works between May and August.

– AAP

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