By JARROD POTTER
SANDOWN Racecourse is set to be extremely quiet this winter after Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) applied to Racing Victoria move all May-to-July race meets from the course.
After remedial works at the Greater Dandenong-area racecourse – also known by its sponsored name William Hill Park – MRC has sought to get 11 meetings moved to alternative venues.
Alongside three April meetings already transferred from the venue from the 2014/15 Racing Victoria schedule, it will give the track four race-free months for works to take place ahead of the spring racing season.
Among those meets will be some of Australia’s premier jumps racing events as the Australian Hurdle and Steeple Day on 30 May, the Grand National Hurdle Day on 12 July and the Grand National Steeple Day on 26 July.
In a statement on the Melbourne Racing Club website, MRC chief executive officer Brodie Arnhold said the works are designed to “return stability to the track” and he didn’t expect them to go beyond eight to 10 weeks, factoring in a couple of extra weeks to allow the course to fully recover before the start of the spring season.
“It is typically an 8-to-10-week process between renovation and return to racing, but we will allow a few additional weeks to ensure the track is in the best condition possible for the commencement of the upcoming season,” Arnhold said.
The club anticipates the first race meeting back after the completion of works to be the Wednesday 5 August.
