Reply With QuoteMight have to fire up Gower Park again Kev
It has been mentioned in other threads but is now only a couple of months away. This was the release in case you missed it
http://www.harness.org.au/news-artic...?news_id=33881
The drivers were announced last week:
http://www.harnesslink.com/News/Driv...light=Wayville
and now the prices (I hope they are not being too greedy)
http://www.harness.org.au/news-artic...R360z2RY.email
As Ray Chaplin suggested - "Would have been interesting to see the crowd if it was free"
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
Might have to fire up Gower Park again Kev
Warringal Park (Heidelberg) would be better - very pretty (football ground now)
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
I read online that Gower Park is actually bigger than Wayville (apparently) - I reckon this could be a goer!
There is Wayville in the old days and a more recent picture of what the venue looks like
Wow it sure looks small. 550 yds (503m) according to this old newspaper story. That would just be ridiculous
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36355363
The Melbourne Showgrounds was 670 yds (612m) according to this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Showgrounds
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
Gower Park was a good track. Melbourne Showgrounds was 600m, 660 yards or 3 furlongs in the old currency and is now gone. When I first started going to the trots many of the best horses hailed from SA; horses like Adios Court and his stablemate Deep Court being two of the best. Drivers like Bill Shinn and Dick Webster were among the very best - I still remember Dick driving Pewter and having the whole field stacked up behind her inside the final 400. Horses and drivers all handled Wayville. One of my favourites, Greenwald, could never master the Showgrounds, unless he led, but handled Wayville OK.
Weigall Oval, in the Adelaide Suburb of Plympton, was a very popular training track of similar size to Wayville. I note the oval is being redeveloped at the moment and the training track is being removed. Sad.
I think the aerial photo hold the secret to Wayville; it's pretty symmetrical whereas the Showgrounds was pear-shaped with that bloody tight turn out of the straight. Tracks like Wayville and the Showgrounds were deemed to be front-runners tracks. I bet those behind the decisions to abandon them never envisaged tracks like Menangle - the numbers of winners which lead and win (and I don't know the stats.) seems pretty high.
I wish they weren't charging admittance for Wayville as it would be really interesting to see how many they can pull.
I am hoping that this can be the renaissance of the small track. Went to Horsham for a couple of races today, a 1,000m track inside a gallops track = Zero atmopshere
Greg Sugars was a Champion harness racing person
The megaphone effect of the booing from the A G Hunter Stand as the beaten odds-on favourite returned to scale at the Showgrounds.............ah, the theatre of it all!
Now, nobody cares because only 2 and a dog go. And the dog can usually be found in the dining room; not a jam donut in sight.
What is the reason for the meeting? is it a one off to raise money or is it going to be regular feature?
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