Gosford track facing 'dress rehearsal' for 2025 The Coast card

Daily Telegraph

23-04-2025

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The Gosford Race Club faces a crucial 'dress rehearsal' on Friday for next month's $500,000 The Coast meeting following urgent recent work to fix safety issues with the track.
Doubt was cast over the club hosting their stand-alone raceday earlier this month after Gosford was forced to abandon its second meeting in two weeks when a horse slipped on the track.
A meeting on March 27 had to be abandoned when a horse slipped on the home turn before a similar incident occurred just after the winning post on April 10.
The track, which underwent a significant redevelopment last year, had held two successful meetings before the incidents occurred.
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It was discovered the areas of concern had a hard layer or 'crust' at the top that restricted horses from breaking the surface, causing the slip. A remediation plan has been put in place to address the issue.
'It became apparent when we started piecing it together that sections of the track were just too hard and looking at the construction of our cambers, the sectionals of the track where the horses slipped were the entrances for the construction of the track,' Gosford chief executive Daniel Lacey said.
'Every tractor and every truck and grader went on via that 20m section so the section was just harder than everywhere else.
'When we were doing the track we were aware that we didn't want to over-compact after the Gold Coast had their issues so we didn't want to end up with a hard compacted track.
'We made sure to compact it as much as we could but it was just in that section.'
The club have worked closely with Evergreen Turf – which played a crucial role remediating the maligned Gold Coast track before this year's Magic Millions – to make it safe for racing.
Palmetto won the 2023 edition of The Coast at Gosford. Picture: Jeremy Ng / Getty Images
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The use of Agri-Vator, designed to break up hard soil layers, decompress soil and aerate the profile, has seen significant improvement in the areas of concern.
Group 1-winning jockeys Tommy Berry and Josh Parr were among the jockeys to gallop over relevant sections of the track last week and gave their tick of approval.
But the biggest test for the club will come on Anzac Day when Gosford hosts an eight-race card.
'We've done everything we can,' Lacey said.
'We have followed all the instructions of the Evergreen Turf guys who helped fix up the Gold Coast track.
'They have got all the machinery that is required and they've kept the machinery here so after Anzac Day we will get the feedback and address anything (if it arises).
'I spoke to a number of trainers on Saturday at Randwick and they plan to bring horses here for The Coast but from a club point of view we just want to get a bit of confidence back in the track.
'We are going ahead (with the Coast meeting) unless we are told there is an issue that needs to be rectified but this is definitely a full dress rehearsal in my eyes.'
The Coast meeting takes place 15 days after Friday's meeting and also features the running of the Listed $300,000 Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) and Listed $250,000 Takeover Target Stakes (1200m).
Originally published as Gosford Race Club to host first meeting since safety issues saw consecutive programs abandoned