Harness Racing Victoria planning and development manager Rob Pongho and Cranbourne Harness Racing Club chief executive David Scott on the home turn to announce funding for a redevelopment of the Cranbourne track.
By Glen Atwell
HARNESS Racing Victoria (HRV) has committed $530,000 to redevelop the Cranbourne circuit in the 2008-09 season.
The money will be spent increasing the camber of the turns to a maximum of 12.5 per cent and adding spiral transition curves to keep the track up to speed with the cutting-edge design.
HRV planning and development manager Rob Pongho said the Cranbourne facelift would maximise horse safety, while ensuring the track encouraged faster and more competitive racing.
“The turns at Cranbourne have an existing camber of between seven and eight per cent,” he said.
“By increasing the cambers to 12.5 per cent, our track design team believes it will reduce the amount of stress experienced by horses and in turn be conducive to faster times.”
Pongho said the redevelopment was also expected to assist horses in making their runs wider on the track over the concluding stages of a race.
Cranbourne’s track circumference of 950 metres will remain the same.
Work on the upgrade will start after this year’s Cranbourne Pacing Cup meeting on Saturday 29 November.
Racing will return to the revamped Cranbourne circuit, which hosts an average of 30 TAB meetings each year, on 5 March next year.
HRV chief executive John Anderson said the upgrade demonstrated HRV’s commitment to improving and maximising its racing infrastructure across Victoria.
“We are committed to ensuring that we have safe, fair and competitive tracks for our participants to race on and our punters to wager on,” he said.
“Cranbourne is the premier racetrack in the state’s south east and this upgrade will ensure that it remains commensurate with other key strategic locations across the state.”
Cranbourne Harness Racing Club chief executive David Scott welcomed news of the redevelopment.
“Our track is only 12 years old, but we recognise that design technology has changed enormously over that period,” he said.
“As a premier country harness racing club, Cranbourne is keen to keep pace with its peers so we’re naturally delighted that HRV has recognised the importance of upgrading our facility.
“We’re committed to providing a modern racing venue for the industry and look forward to playing our part to ensure this exciting project becomes a reality.”
Cranbourne’s last track upgrade occurred in the mid 1990s, when the track was extended from a little over 800m to 950m.
Lights were also installed to herald the arrival of night racing.
