‘We need drainage’: Euroa Cup day at Benalla Racing Club suffers premature end due to visibility concerns

Despite losing the final four races, the Euroa Cup was still run and won, with Brent Stanley-trained galloper Ceardai cruising to a 2.75-length victory as a $9 chance.

Following the feature race, the jockeys came together and decided the conditions were not safe to continue, with the wet track resulting in a large amount of kick-back that made it impossible to see.

In what was a disappointing way to finish the day, Benalla Racing Club general manager Cameron Symes explained the difficulties the jockeys faced trying to race on the wet track.

“We started the track on a good four which is optimum for racing, and then after race one it went down to a five and then a six, before going to a 10 before race six,” Symes said.

“It started raining at 10am and it didn’t let up, the visibility for the jockeys was the concern just with the kick-back from the rain their goggles kept fogging up and they just could not see a thing.

“Safety is paramount in this instance and you can fully understand why the jockeys decided it wasn’t safe to go on, it is obviously a tough one when the races were called off two weeks prior, but at the end of the day safety is the top priority.”

Symes also provided an update into the meet that was abandoned two weeks ago, with the investigation concluding that the track was not at fault for the fall of jockey Lachie King that caused the races to be called off after race one.

“A couple of weeks ago when the races were called off there was an investigation into the fall, and it has been noted that the track was not at fault as to how or why the jockey had that fall,” he said.

“It is still yet to be determined how or why the fall occurred, but the track was not the cause which we knew, there was no need for any remedial works to be done to the track afterwards and we were all good to proceed yesterday.

“Unfortunately we just copped that 20mm of rain, which made it very difficult to get through the day.”

There is one major concern when it comes to the track’s ability to handle wet weather, however, and that is the fact there is currently no drainage system in place.

As a result, the club can only host meets in the summer months and when it receives such a deluge as the one experienced on Sunday the grass quickly turns into mud.

Symes said the club was well aware of the issue and in talks with Racing Victoria to try and get a drainage system installed.

“One thing we don’t have is drainage in the track, back in 2012 they ripped it all out due to the fact that there was issues with it and it has never been replaced,” he said.

“I actually had a conversation with Racing Victoria yesterday to express the drainage project up the pecking order, because when we do get downpours like that our track just can’t handle it.

“We miss five months of racing in winter because there is no drainage system, and it is something that is on our agenda to get fixed as quickly as possible.

“These events show that we need drainage.”

Despite the unfortunate ending to the day’s racing, Symes said it was still fantastic to play host to the Euroa Cup and said the focus was now on finishing the season on a high.

“Euroa Cup has been run in Benalla for quite a long time and we get some wonderful support out of the Euroa community, which makes it one of our highlight meets of the year,” he said.

“Looking forward now though we have another set of races on February 14 and then another on the 27th, so we have a big month of racing coming up which is very exciting for our racing community.”