Saturday’s Sky Two horse race meeting in Gundagai has been transferred to Cootamundra after recent wet weather and track work left the course in Gundagai unable to be raced on.
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The eleventh-hour decision is a great boost for the Cootamundra Turf Club, who become the hosts of the event, and an opportunity for local race-goers to enjoy a bonus meeting at the Cootamundra Racecourse.
The Turf Club committee is in full swing ensuring preparations are finalised prior to Saturday.
The event will feature six races with 70 acceptances including emergencies.
The two 1000m races programmed will now be run over 1100m, the two races that were scheduled to be run over 1180m will now be 1200m, the 1800m Class One and Maiden Plate has been shortened to 1600m and the 1400m race remains unchanged.
Admission to the racecourse will be free with race one set to jump at 1.04pm and the last race at 4.15pm.
There will be a barbecue at the course and heaters to beat the cold.
It will be a TAB meeting with bookmakers on course and punters able to have a flutter on both the local and metropolitan races.
All major metropolitan meetings will be televised on course.
The timing of the change means this will be a less-formal event than October’s Cootamundra Cup, according to the Turf Club committee, with no marquee sites.
Southern District chief steward John Davidson inspected both the Cootamundra and Gundagai tracks on Wednesday before making the decision.
Gundagai-Adelong Racing Club had recently upgraded their irrigation system and the track had not completely recovered in time for Saturday’s race meeting.
Davidson said that issue combined with the heavy nature of the track due to recent rain deemed the track unsuitable for racing.
He then travelled to inspect the Cootamundra track before making the decision to transfer the meeting.
The Cootamundra Turf Club committee reports he was “very happy” with the state of the track, which has a good cover of grass on it.
It has been rated a heavy eight, however areas of the track are better than this.
While disappointing for Gundagai organisers and locals, the Cootamundra Turf Club committee said they have been working towards being able to host extra meetings so are looking forward to taking on this last-minute challenge and invite all local racing enthusiasts out for a day at the races.
