Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) has committed to rescheduling the St Arnaud Pacing and Trotting Cups after Sunday’s meeting was abandoned.
HRV is liaising with the St Arnaud Club and looking at alternative options for its feature races. An announcement will be made in coming days.
Interim HRV General Manager of Operations Shane Gloury said the St Arnaud club should be congratulated for their efforts to organise Sunday’s cup meeting before it was abandoned due to the state of the track and the mobile gate being unable to gain traction following overnight rain.
“St Arnaud’s community had embraced the day and by all reports the club was expecting a big crowd,” Mr Gloury said.
“We want to ensure the St Arnaud community gets the cup day they deserve.”
Stewards assessed the track on Sunday before Race 1 and deemed it not fit for racing and further testing one hour later showed the surface had not improved so they were left with no option but to abandon the meeting.
“It’s always disappointing to lose a meeting like that when so much hard work has been put in to setting it up, but fact is safety of our participants, horses and race day staff must be placed ahead of everything,” Mr Gloury said.
“HRV will also pay all drivers’ fees from Sunday and make a ‘meeting abandonment payment’ to each trainer that had a runner or runners engaged to offset travel costs.”
Trainers will receive compensation of $100 for every two horses they had at the meeting, meaning trainers who had 1-2 horses will get $100, trainers with 3-4 horses will receive $200 and trainers that had 5-6 horses will get $300.
Gunbower will hold its annual cup meeting on Sunday as the Trots Country Cups Carnival continues.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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