Race meets moved

RACE meetings including the Yarra Valley Cup will be transferred because of extensive repairs to be done on the Yarra Valley thoroughbred racing track.
Racing Victoria (RV) and Yarra Valley Racing Inc (YVR) announced that the tracks will also be closed for racing and training until at least May.
The Yarra Valley Cup, set down for Sunday 20 March, will now be run at Cranbourne, as will YVR’s next programmed meeting on Sunday 23 January.
YVR’s race meeting on 20 February has been transferred to Bairnsdale and the meeting scheduled for Anzac Day (25 April) has been cancelled.
The Yarra Valley thoroughbred track was closed for racing and training when a section of the racing surface collapsed during the running of the race meeting on 30 December.
The cause was determined to be two floods late last year, which weakened the drainage system at the 100m mark underneath the turf track.
RV consultants Dalton Engineering are in the process of determining the extent of the repairs required, which will require at least a partial replacement of the drainage system through the excavation of a section of the racetrack.
RV chief strategy officer Paul Bittar said RV and YVR were working towards returning thoroughbred racing to Yarra Valley on a safe and competitive racing surface in a timely manner.
“The industry can be assured that the safety of our riders and horses remains of the utmost importance to Racing Victoria and we will continue to ensure that our track safety is of the highest possible standard,” Mr Bittar said.