The track marks left approximately half way down the straight at the Harden racecourse, have resulted in Racing NSW possibly postponing the Harden Picnic Races on Saturday October 24.
The Harden Picnic Races may be postponed due to damage to the straight of the race track. Racing New South Wales Stewards met with the Race Committee yesterday morning to evaluate the track conditions ahead of next Saturday’s Cox Plate Picnic Race Meeting. The Stewards declared that the track was ‘unfit’ for racing due to a set of tyre marks which has killed off the grass approximately half way down the straight. The issue is that the straight must be the same colour for its whole length.
The marks do not seem to have left any major indentations in the track with the only issue being the change from green grass either side of the brown grass which has died off due to wear and tear over time. The Race Committee has now replaced the running rail on the northern side of the track and will be looking to remove any gates on the southern side of the track to appease the Stewards. The Stewards will return to Harden on Monday to re-evaluate the condition of the track. The Committee has a couple of options before them including painting the affected grass green so that it matches the other grass which according to a committee spokesman may or may not be allowed, or turning the rest of the grass in the straight to a colour closer to brown so that the entire straight is the same colour.
The Cootamundra Turf club had a race meeting cancelled last year due to a broken pipe which flooded part of the course and equine influenza prevented many race meetings including Harden’s 2007 meet from going ahead. Hopefully a solution can be found soon. Club Treasurer Judy Stewart said “ We will let people know Monday what the outcome is, we don’t know who has caused the damage, we just want to do our best in the hope the races will go ahead.” Social media was thrown in to a frenzy over the announcement posted on the Twin Town Times Facebook page around Midday Wednesday. Many of the comments revolving around disbelief, anger, frustration and hope that the event would still go ahead.
We hope that the problem will be rectified and the largest social event on Harden Murrumburrah’s calendar will go ahead. More information will be found on the Twin Town Times facebook page and website as it comes to hand Monday.
