Amlin
10-04-2014, 09:48 PM
Over $400,000 will be spent on a redevelopment of the Warragul harness racing track which will make the circuit one of the best quality of its kind in Australia.
Nearly a decade after initial plans to replace the current track with a 1000-metre circuit, Harness Racing Victoria, Warragul Harness Racing Club and the Victorian Coalition Government will all contribute to a comprehensive $434,000 overhaul of the existing 835-metre track.
While the physical layout and size of the track will not alter, both the turns and straights on the track will have an increased camber applied, in line with current industry requirements relating to animal welfare and competitor safety.
The camber on the bends will rise from around 8 per cent to 12.5 per cent, while in the straights a current camber of around 2 per cent will increase to 4 per cent.
The track will also receive new surface gravel as part of the works, which should see Warragul's circuit retain its reputation as an excellent racing surface in wet weather.
While the finished product will look slightly different to the current track, the real changes will occur as far as safety and comfort for competing horses.
A good cushion of track surface material, increased cambers, and ensuring the straights connect smoothly with the bends, reduces the pressure on horses joints while competing.
Scientific research has proven that horses will run faster and produce better efforts when they are racing under reduced leg stress.
The camber works and better quality racing surface should also equate to faster race times, and WHRC officials are quietly confident that the current race time records on the track will be bettered when racing recommences on Monday, December 1.
Contractors will arrive on site on Monday, October 6 with the track expected to be under reconstruction for around six weeks, before barrier trials are held to test the facility on Saturday, November 22.
It has been a long road for the Warragul Harness Racing Club to reach the point when the announcement of the successful tender was made recently.
In 2005 plans were put in place by Harness Racing Victoria to rebuild the track at Warragul to a circumference of 1000 metres, which is the industry preferred size.
These plans created much discussion among fellow user groups at the Logan Park complex but, somewhere along the way, racing industry funding was allocated to other projects and Warragul's thoughts of a new track were lost in the system.
In 2011, faced with a reduced amount of race meetings each year at Warragul and in a difficult economic climate, the WHRC successfully approached Harness Racing Victoria with an alternate plan for a refurbishment of the existing circuit in an effort to get funding for major capital works at Warragul back on the agenda.
Although half-mile tracks such as Warragul's are now seen by some sections of the trotting industry as outdated, WHRC officials believe their track will become a point of difference in Victorian harness racing, and the anticipated quality of the circuit will be a great marketing tool.
Many smaller tracks in Victoria have gradually been rebuilt to a bigger size in the last decade. Of the smaller tracks remaining in Victoria, Warragul is the easiest project to renovate rather than enlarge, given its width and bend radius are already adequate.
Most of the other small tracks in Victoria are flatter and narrower, having been built decades ago when horses were slower and before the mobile barrier was introduced.
Warragul already boasts a radius on the bends bigger than more modern circuits at Geelong, Charlton and Cranbourne.
Respected racing commentator, and successful harness racing trainer John Tapp, recently led a tour group to the iconic American trotting event the Little Brown Jug, staged in front of 40,000 spectators on a well cambered half-mile track in Delaware, Ohio.
Tapp was impressed with the quality of the Delaware track, and said on Sky Channel's harness racing television program In The Gig:
"It's a perfect half mile track. The geometry is absolutely spot on. It's very wide, and the camber is ideal," Tapp said.
"I'm sure there's an argument for half mile tracks in many sections of the industry, particularly for the weaker horses."
"If they happen to draw (barrier) one, two, or three, they get their chance to win whereas on the bigger tracks like Menangle (1400 metres) there is nowhere to hide, and I'm afraid the ordinary horse has got little hope."
"We've still got some half mile tracks in New South Wales and, I tell you what, it will be a sad day if every one of them disappears."
The current Warragul track was built in 1988 and at the time was considered to be a state of the art venue. It was the first to be built with European-style cambered bends which have since been replicated and improved upon at other venues Australia wide.
The track now hosts nine race meetings per year, along with regular barrier trials, and is used daily by local participants for the training of their horses.
Warragul Harness Racing Club officials are confident they can recreate a little bit of Delaware down under with their track refurbishment as a new era is set to begin for the sport of trotting in Gippsland.
Nearly a decade after initial plans to replace the current track with a 1000-metre circuit, Harness Racing Victoria, Warragul Harness Racing Club and the Victorian Coalition Government will all contribute to a comprehensive $434,000 overhaul of the existing 835-metre track.
While the physical layout and size of the track will not alter, both the turns and straights on the track will have an increased camber applied, in line with current industry requirements relating to animal welfare and competitor safety.
The camber on the bends will rise from around 8 per cent to 12.5 per cent, while in the straights a current camber of around 2 per cent will increase to 4 per cent.
The track will also receive new surface gravel as part of the works, which should see Warragul's circuit retain its reputation as an excellent racing surface in wet weather.
While the finished product will look slightly different to the current track, the real changes will occur as far as safety and comfort for competing horses.
A good cushion of track surface material, increased cambers, and ensuring the straights connect smoothly with the bends, reduces the pressure on horses joints while competing.
Scientific research has proven that horses will run faster and produce better efforts when they are racing under reduced leg stress.
The camber works and better quality racing surface should also equate to faster race times, and WHRC officials are quietly confident that the current race time records on the track will be bettered when racing recommences on Monday, December 1.
Contractors will arrive on site on Monday, October 6 with the track expected to be under reconstruction for around six weeks, before barrier trials are held to test the facility on Saturday, November 22.
It has been a long road for the Warragul Harness Racing Club to reach the point when the announcement of the successful tender was made recently.
In 2005 plans were put in place by Harness Racing Victoria to rebuild the track at Warragul to a circumference of 1000 metres, which is the industry preferred size.
These plans created much discussion among fellow user groups at the Logan Park complex but, somewhere along the way, racing industry funding was allocated to other projects and Warragul's thoughts of a new track were lost in the system.
In 2011, faced with a reduced amount of race meetings each year at Warragul and in a difficult economic climate, the WHRC successfully approached Harness Racing Victoria with an alternate plan for a refurbishment of the existing circuit in an effort to get funding for major capital works at Warragul back on the agenda.
Although half-mile tracks such as Warragul's are now seen by some sections of the trotting industry as outdated, WHRC officials believe their track will become a point of difference in Victorian harness racing, and the anticipated quality of the circuit will be a great marketing tool.
Many smaller tracks in Victoria have gradually been rebuilt to a bigger size in the last decade. Of the smaller tracks remaining in Victoria, Warragul is the easiest project to renovate rather than enlarge, given its width and bend radius are already adequate.
Most of the other small tracks in Victoria are flatter and narrower, having been built decades ago when horses were slower and before the mobile barrier was introduced.
Warragul already boasts a radius on the bends bigger than more modern circuits at Geelong, Charlton and Cranbourne.
Respected racing commentator, and successful harness racing trainer John Tapp, recently led a tour group to the iconic American trotting event the Little Brown Jug, staged in front of 40,000 spectators on a well cambered half-mile track in Delaware, Ohio.
Tapp was impressed with the quality of the Delaware track, and said on Sky Channel's harness racing television program In The Gig:
"It's a perfect half mile track. The geometry is absolutely spot on. It's very wide, and the camber is ideal," Tapp said.
"I'm sure there's an argument for half mile tracks in many sections of the industry, particularly for the weaker horses."
"If they happen to draw (barrier) one, two, or three, they get their chance to win whereas on the bigger tracks like Menangle (1400 metres) there is nowhere to hide, and I'm afraid the ordinary horse has got little hope."
"We've still got some half mile tracks in New South Wales and, I tell you what, it will be a sad day if every one of them disappears."
The current Warragul track was built in 1988 and at the time was considered to be a state of the art venue. It was the first to be built with European-style cambered bends which have since been replicated and improved upon at other venues Australia wide.
The track now hosts nine race meetings per year, along with regular barrier trials, and is used daily by local participants for the training of their horses.
Warragul Harness Racing Club officials are confident they can recreate a little bit of Delaware down under with their track refurbishment as a new era is set to begin for the sport of trotting in Gippsland.