Greyville Racecourse
In a bitter twist of irony, yet another Greyville night meeting has been disrupted in generally good weather conditions. And this time the jockeys are holding discussions with the operator.
The difficulties with the Greyville track are slowly developing into a nightmare for Gold Circle on the eve of their Champions Season and the jolt comes as punters digested the shocking news this week that Tellytrack may disappear from our television screens at the end of March.
Jockey disruptions and delays to race meetings are simply bad for business.
On 3 January 2014 the Greyville meeting was disrupted in similar fashion.
At that meeting the Stipes reported that:
There was a delay to the running of the 3rd race after the riders expressed concern regarding patches on the bend. the panel was formed, and having inspected the track, were unanimously of the view that it was safe to continue with the remainder of the race meeting.
The last meeting at the track was held on 7 February, when the start was delayed:
The start of this Race was delayed as a result of the horses leaving the parade ring late due to no water in the unsaddling area after a water pipe had burst, as well as the ambulance having difficulty in turning around at the 1000 metre mark.
The meeting went ahead and was completed.
Gold Circle’s Chief Operating Officer Graeme Hawkins commented to the Sporting Post on Tuesday:
“While still not where we would like it to be, the Greyville turf track is improving all the while and is certainly a lot better than for the previous race meeting on 7 February. Most of the cross-cuts where drainage pipes were installed have completely recovered, but there are still a few areas of concern where recovery seems be lagging behind. These are mainly in the 1600m, 1200m and 700m areas.”
Hawkins’ concerns appear to have been spot on.
Further news is awaited.
