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Live sport on SN this weekendLeading trainer calls out state of tracks in Australia, offers solution to the growing issue
SENTrack • December 3rd, 2024 12:02 pm
Leading trainer Wayne Hawkes has called out the state of race tracks in Australia.
Sunday’s Traralgon Cup meeting was abandoned due to the state of the track after heavy rain hit Victoria over the weekend.
An unprecedented amount of rain hit the region in the last week, but Hawkes says this issue hasn’t just reared its head recently with the number of abandoned meetings seemingly doubled in the last few years.
The prominent trainer believes racing bodies need to invest more in race tracks to ensure the number of abandoned meetings doesn’t keep rising.
“My usual ‘oh no’ is the tracks,” Hawkes told SENTrack.
“Traralgon was called off on Sunday and why do we not race during the winter time in Traralgon? Because it doesn’t cope and it doesn’t handle it (the rain).
“These tracks are for summer racing but we continue to race on grass tracks outside and we continue to not do enough of repairing these venues.
“Every year there should be a track under renovation in the bush and as soon as it's finished it should have 12 months off to recover and four seasons in one day and once it's finished that company should move on to the next track and they just keep going around.
“People will say that that’s going to cost a lot of money and they see that investment as one that doesn’t get any money back.
“Sydney is also no better, the Randwick-Kensington track was out of work for four and a half years.”
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