Washout blow for trainers

The Geraldton Turf Club is debating whether to hold a separate race day to make up for Monday’s abandoned meeting, or to add the races to the cards of other meetings.

Geraldton Turf Club chief executive Dave Wrensted said the club had considered running the full meeting later in the week, but the damage to facilities and organisation required was too extensive to make it feasible after nearly 65mm of rain fell on the track on Sunday night/Monday morning.

“As far as the actual track goes racing this week would not be an issue but it’s the other damage to much of the facilities, and organising staff, ambulance and doctors at such short notice that would have made it very challenging, ” he said.

“There was a lot of damage to some public facilities — like electrical problems to the caller’s tower and the photo-finish camera — as well as the inside sand track that the service vehicles need to access (being) simply not useable.

“A lot of the repair work was done on tuesday, but to organise a race now for this week was not realistic.”

Wrensted said the card for next Wednesday’s meeting could be increased from eight to 10 races, but he said a lot of the rescheduling would be up to Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA).

There will be no financial loss to the club after Monday’s abandonment because the RWWA has financial support packages in place to support clubs in this situation.

“RWWA have a policy to look after the club and are really good in that regard, ” Wrensted said.

Wrensted said the biggest disappointment was that trainers would be set back in their Geraldton Cup preparations.