Thoroughbred Park's course proper has earned itself a well-deserved break with racing set to shift inside to the synthetic track for the first time in two years.
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Five meetings will be run on the Acton track, allowing more than four months for a much-needed reseeding of the grass circuit before racing returns to the course proper on September 3.
Canberra Racing Club didn't switch to the synthetic track in 2020, allowing remedial works to be undertaken on that circuit. This year's winter will now be devoted to an extensive operation on the 1815m circumference main track.
"We're just going through a process of our annual renovation for our course proper whereby we reseed, recycle and top dress the course," Canberra Racing Club boss Andrew Clark said.
"It allows us to race year round, if we were to race year round on our grass track in Canberra it would create issues with winter grasses being introduced.
"This provides the opportunity to do the renovation to ensure that any winter grasses are removed and reduced so in future we don't have those undesirable turf species in our course proper."
The club has also announced it will begin a large-scale turf grass nursery, which allow track repairs in the future to happen at a much faster rate.
Its highly rated synthetic course will be used extensively over winter, hosting trackwork each day, along with weekly jumpouts.
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"It was [last] redone in 2016, and we raced on that surface in 2017, 2018 and 2019," Clark said.
"Last year we continued to race on the turf while we sourced additional material to put into the Acton track. Additional material will be put in before the first race meeting on that track."
Racing resumes at Thoroughbred Park on May 21.
MEANWHILE, Canberra-trained duo Maid Of Ore and Upper House will contest Friday's $200,000 Wagga Wagga Gold Cup.
The Chris Waller-trained Yonkers is favourite to take out the feature after a dominant win at Caulfield last start.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
