This review of Melbourne’s metropolitan tracks can be broken down into six stages but this review will cover the sixth and final stage of its current metropolitan harness racing track at TABCorp Park, Melton.
Melton – TABCorp Park : transfer from Moonee Valley
After thirty three years as Victoria’s home of harness racing, Moonee Valley was phased out with a reduction from fifty two meetings in season 2008/9 to just four in season 2009-10 prior to the complete move of Melbourne metropolitan harness racing to Melton.
In September 2009 a Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) board meeting was held at Melton with discussions as to harness racing’s future at Moonee Valley being the major talking point. Later talks between HRV and the Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) considered whether harness racing would remain at Moonee Valley.
MVRC chief executive Michael Browell had expected a reduction from the contracted fifty two meetings to twelve (all Saturday night fixtures) in the 2009/10 season. Discussions also included a total departure from Moonee Valley of harness racing. Browell said that would be a much more delicate issue as HRV had a contract with MVRC to hold fifty two meetings each year at Moonee Valley until 31 July, 2022.
HRV chief executive John Anderson said: “HRV is prepared to race at Moonee Valley on a monthly basis beyond next season or, subject to a favourable commercial agreement, cease racing there altogether at the end of the 2009-10 season.” HRV knew participants would welcome a metropolitan home and had explored the possible options although no help was expected from its thoroughbred counterparts.
HRV held meetings at The Valley as a tenant of the MVRC hosting its last race there in early February 2010 because the costs of racing at the inner-city venue were considerably higher than at Melton. HRV Chairman Dale Monteith, former chief executive of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club (now Melbourne Racing Club) and Victoria Racing Club, confirmed HRV would ‘love’ to have a metropolitan track to support its current base at Melton. Monteith confirmed that HRV under a different leadership had looked to return to the Valley circuit.
HRV did talk to Michael Browell at the MVRC about the possibility of the inclusion of a harness track within their redevelopment plans but nothing materialised as the MVRC required space in the centre of the racecourse to allow them to further develop their master plan. The MRC (Caulfield) unveiled plans for a $300 million redevelopment, a key feature of the upgrade being the installation of a second turf track that would be used primarily for night racing. Training would cease at Caulfield in 2023 with the redevelopments completion targeted for 2025 resulting in up to forty five thoroughbred meetings being held per season, almost double the current number.
Without a doubt harness participants would love to be back in the metropolitan area but limited options such as :
- Caulfield – muted briefly in discussions between CEO’s of VATC and HRV in 1990’s but not raised at any senior level since (track placement would have to be inside turf tracks)
- Moonee Valley – major redevelopment has already commenced without any harness racing included in plans
HRV would be unable to fund any venue closer to Melbourne CBD without State Government (financial) input. Melton is considered a superb track without the flaws of Moonee Valley which was restructured on three occasions – the final bend at Moonee Valley is virtually a three-quarter turn with drivers fighting gravity making it difficult to make ground on that bend. Melton’s major drawbacks are the facilities are not as good as at Moonee Valley but that has to be expected with a relatively new track; its distance from the CBD, in a rural area attracting its own Melton crowd, its isolation means a long way to go for many city and rural patrons unlike the old Showgrounds or Moonee Valley tracks located close to the CBD were.
Melton – TABCorp Park
The land on which TABCorp Park is located was purchased from the Melton Council by HRV. There is a large amount of land (for commercial development) as well as the actual track and associated buildings making it the only major metropolitan harness track owned outright for the industry’s benefit in Melbourne.
TABCorp Park is a unique sporting venue and community hub operating seven days a week which includes a premier metropolitan harness racing track with a range of entertainment facilities. Situated forty kilometres west of Melbourne’s CBD, TABCorp Park boasts forty one spacious and modern four star hotel rooms on site, with conference and event space for up to one thousand people, a renowned Home Straight Bistro, Sports Bar with live bands on Saturday nights, tribute shows and a TAB gaming room.
HRV built a state-of-the-art 1040m track for racing. This 1040m track has a fourteen percent camber and a premier surface. The stall and horse complex accommodates more than one hundred and thirty horses on race days.
Racetrack/Design Facts
Circumference – 1040 metres. Straights – 205 metres
Radius On Turns – 110 metres.
Camber – 14% (corners), 4% (straights)
Sprint Lane – Yes
Field Limits – 12 (mobile), 14 (stand)
Front Line – 7 across (mobiles and stands)
Race Distances – 1720m, 2240m, 2760m, 3280m
Design – one of the most technologically advanced in Australasia
TABCorp Melton was designed and constructed by HRV’s track design team, their key objective was to deliver a racetrack that promoted fast, fair and competitive racing while maximising horse and driver safety. At 1040m circumference the track is the largest TAB track in Victoria, similar in design to the revamped track at Bendigo (opened in March 2007) with an extra 20 metres on each straight. By comparison Moonee Valley was 960m in circumference.
TABCorp Park and Bendigo are the two tracks with the highest camber on its turns in Australia at fourteen – compared to previous venues at Harold Park, Sydney (13.8%), Moonee Valley, Melbourne (10%) and current Sydney metropolitan track Menangle (10%) as high profile examples. The camber combined with the big 110m radius turns, means the sideways friction forces (stress on horse’s legs) is the least of any track in Australia with the objective being to reduce injuries, prolong careers and promote speed.
A feature of the design is that the camber is carried further around the home turn before dropping off more quickly into the home straight to ensure horses out wide can better sustain momentum around the final bend. Specially formulated spiral curves** are a feature of Victorian tracks upgraded in recent years which Tabcorp Park advanced upon with further technology.
**spiral curves mean that the straights taper into the bends rather than turn from a specific point which aids the transition of horses in and out of the turns.
Materials used on Victorian tracks are carefully chosen being scientifically tested for weight tolerance, plasticity and grading curves. The material has been refined over the years to deliver the base and surface materials that maximise safety and speed at TABCorp Park, Melton.
The lights at TABCorp Park have a capacity of 1300 lux which are the brightest in Australia alongside Moonee Valley thoroughbred track. TABCorp Park, Melton features a safety generator that delivers sufficient light to safely complete a race in the advent of a power blackout now standard practice across all Victorian tracks.
As part of a three way partnership between HRV, Western Water and the City of Melton, the racetrack is serviced and maintained by A-Class recycled water, pumped to the venue from Western Water’s recycled water plant seven kilometres distant.
The footprint of the racetrack was laid from April – July 2007, while the second half of the track construction process commenced in March 2009, shortly after the commercial facilities opened for business. Construction of the track finished ahead of the first set of trials on 9 June 2009, with the first race meeting, a non-TAB restricted class meeting on 20 June 2009 used to test the facilities ahead of its grand opening. Three year old pacing filly Jordan Ashleigh (2005f Village Jasper/Carinya Wood, 1:57.4, $54,712, eleven wins), trained by Melton based Maree Caldow and driven by her husband John, was the first horse to win a race at Melton.
TABCorp Park at Melton officially opened for business hosting a day TAB meeting on Sunday 5 July 2009. The Shane Gilligan trained, Neil McCallum driven two year old pacing filly Lady Belladonna (2006f Pacific Fella/Soap Box, 1:58.4, $157,172, thirteen wins; Lombo – 2f; seconds VIC Bred/Breeders Crown – 2f) won the first TAB race, Carbine Chemicals VICBred semi-final – 2f.
Hosting premier harness racing throughout the year (around eighty meetings per annum). A selection of dining options are available on race nights including first floor level grandstand dining/viewing in the Legends Room.
Harness Racing Victoria scrapped standing starts for pacers from the commencement of the 2016/17 season (1 September 2016) which meant racing at Melton for pacers of all classes was from behind the mobile gate.
Two trotters and one pacers Interdominion championships have been held in the decade since metropolitan racing in Melbourne moved to Melton. In 2012 outstanding NZ trotter I Can Doosit clinched his second ID trotter’s final in successive years. The first joint series in 2018 initiated a return of the Trotters series (not run 2013 – 2017) with former Kiwi trotter Tornado Valley leading the way. Another former Kiwi Tiger Tara capped a stellar career with his dominant Pacers Grand Final victory.
Melton is the current host track for Grand Circuit Pacing events each season, Group One Victoria and Hunter Cups. Concurrent with these two races are the Trotting Masters equivalents, the Group One Great Southern Star and Australian Trotting Grand Prix. The Breeders Crown finals have been held at Melton since its opening in July 2009.
Melton has seen a number of speedy records set in recent years, the prime example of this would be Lochinvar Art’s breath taking sub 1:50 time of 1:48.6 (1720m) set on 25 January 2020 in the 4yo Bonzana defeating Kiwi Self Assured, being the only sub 1:50MR recorded at Melton to date. Not to be outdone, NZ bred trotter Keystone Del set the third fastest Australasian MR of T1:53.7 (1720m) when winning a heat of the Great Southern Star on 12 March 2016. Two year old filly Ladies In Red recorded the fastest 1720m in Australasia (1:51.9MR) in the Alabar VICBRED 2yo fillies final on 10 October 2020 (NB: racing season duration changed giving Ladies In Red an age advantage over previous 2yo record holders).
Announced in October 2020 that TABCorp Park Melton would receive upgraded facilities courtesy of a joint funding package worth $150,000 with work starting immediately. Upgrades are for the steward’s tower to be dismantled and rebuilt to a height of six metres to allow better track viewing for stewards. Improved, modern and safe facilities for stewards support the vital role they perform ensuring compliance with rules, integrity requirements and safety measures. The project will also result in safer stairs, lightning protection and communications cabling.
Geelong and Kilmore tracks will also have improvements with the Victorian government supplied $74,366 from the Victorian Racing Industry Fund to support the upgrades with that amount matched by Harness Racing Victoria. Since December 2014, the Victorian Government has injected more than $1.4 million supporting harness racing events and infrastructure projects at Melton, Geelong and Kilmore. The Victorian harness racing industry generates $600 million annually for the economy sustaining more than 4,360 full-time-equivalent jobs.
Next Time : New South Wales
Peter Craig
29 September 2021
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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