Australian Turf Club’s Chief Executive Officer Darren Pearce is keen for Randwick’s Kensington Track to have more time to recuperate before hosting its next race meeting.
Jockey Blake Shinn was one of many racing participants to criticise the performance of the Kensington Track. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
The Kensington Track has been undergoing remedial work since it copped plenty of criticism after under performing on November 22 and Pearce thinks the extra time will be beneficial to its recovery.
The next meeting for the Kensington Track is marked down for February 4 by Pearce will be approaching Racing NSW and requesting the return to the Kensington Track be put back until March 11.
Pearce thinks this time frame will fit in nicely as Canterbury Park is due to close then to be become a quarantine centre for the overseas runners that will be arriving to compete at the Sydney Autumn Carnival and ‘The Championships’.
“I walked it yesterday and while it has definitely improved, it is coming back a bit slower from the renovation and there is a good opportunity while the sun is shining to give it more time for growth,” Pearce told Racing Network..
“There are two meetings scheduled for the Kensington track in February, they can be moved to Canterbury or Warwick Farm without too much of a hassle and then when Canterbury is out of action, the Kensington track will be in much better condition and can take the load.
“I’ll be speaking with Racing NSW this week to hopefully have the schedule changed without too much disruption.”
Australian Turf Club Executive General Manager Of Racing Matt Rudolph explained that the problem arising from the newly laid turf on the Kensington Track is due to the aggressive nature of the type of Kikuyo grass known as Village Green, and measures have been taken to rectify the problem.
“We have found that the layer with these new type of Kikuyo has built up quiet aggressively and that is what has caused the problems,” Rudolph said.
“We decided to remove that thatch layer and get on with the renovations.
“Hopefully it will be onwards and upwards from there.”
