Tricodes Day – three times the fun

By Stuart Teather
CRANBOURNE Racing Club’s Tricodes Day is back on track after the thoroughbred course received an all clear from stewards on Tuesday morning.
There had been concerns that the track was not fit for racing, following the inclement weather over the past month, but a trial run on Tuesday received the thumbs up from stewards, meaning the club’s hugely successful Tricodes Day will go ahead on Sunday.
The Tricodes Day is one of the biggest events on the Cranbourne calendar when thoroughbreds, greyhounds and harness racers all hit the track on the same day.
All up, 23 races will be run on Sunday with eight greyhound, eight thoroughbred and seven harness races thundering around the track.
With non-stop action, with 15-minute race intervals, Cranbourne Turf Club chief executive Neil Bainbridge said it would be an exciting day for the crowd.
“It’s pretty action-packed, it’s a pretty full-on day and it’s a great way to showcase and celebrate what’s great about the Cranbourne Racing Centre and that’s that it’s home to the three codes,” he said.
The City of Casey is sponsoring a feature race in each of the codes on the day, though there will be other big races on the card including the Group 3 $20,000 Bruce Skeggs Trotters Cup.
Bainbridge said events like the Tricodes were vital for the region.
“It’s pretty well the biggest race day in Australia with regards to the volume,” he said.
“It’s pretty important to the local economy, pretty important to the industry and it’s a wonderful employer as well.”
Bainbridge said he was expecting between 5000 and 6000 people to make the trek to the Grant St course and said he expected an improvement on numbers from last year when 42-degree heat kept the crowds away.
“The day does continue to grow and it continues to get momentum. Last year with the weather it was a bit of an issue and a concern,” he said.
“It brings a lot of people with an interest in greyhound racing who might not often come and watch a harness or a thoroughbred meeting and it provides them with an opportunity to come to a different event.”
For anyone looking to escape the races, there will be plenty of off-course activities on offer, including jumping castles, pony rides and roving entertainers for the kids, as well as a punters’ bar hosted by Collingwood legend Mick McGuane and local identity Dave Whalen.
The action begins at 11.50am with the first greyhound race of the day, with gates open at 10.30am.