New track for Turf Club

BALLARAT Turf Club members celebrated the opening of a new training track last week with a visit from State Minister for Racing, Anthony Carbines.

This track will allow more trainers and horses to use the club, increasing capacity to 650 horses.

The old training track was narrow and had poor drainage, meaning in certain conditions it was unusable.

Ballarat Turf Club president, Belinda Glass, said the new track will help trainers both from Ballarat and from other areas across the state.

“Gallops, jump outs and training generally can now be on a trusted, reliable and safe surface for all of our participants,” she said.

“It will help share the load of access to regional grass tracks across those important regional periods and we are proud that we can help to do that and reduce the travel and some of the associated costs to trainers.”

The project was funded with $1.3 million from the Victorian Racing Industry Fund and Member for Ripon Martha Haylett, and Member for Wendouree Julianna Addison also attended the opening.

Mr Carbines also visited Burrumbeet Racecourse which is set to have large shade sails installed at the track to protect racegoers from the elements, particularly at the annual New Year’s Day races.

This project will be funded from the State Government’s regional customer facilities grant program.

Shaded areas will likely provide more opportunities for other groups to use the racecourse year-round.

The Ballarat racing industry contributes more than $89 million to the Victorian economy and supports more than 700 jobs in the area.

“It’s a great sport, but for so many people it’s also generating more than 700 full time jobs in the Ballarat region alone,” said Mr Carbines.

“It’s not just a venue for race meeting, but it’s also a regional training hub.

“The opportunities economically that it drives for Ballarat is worth tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs so it’s important that we keep that investment going.”