Wagga’s new harness racing track is set for a Sunday afternoon christening in just over four months.
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“Riverina Paceway” will have its official opening on March 10 next year, complete with a new name to recognise its importance to the region.
As construction takes shape on the $10 million venue at Cartwrights Hill, anticipation is building.
“The feedback from not only the harness racing industry but the people of the region has been terrific,” Wagga Harness Racing Club chief executive, Graeme White, said.
“There is a lot of excitement about the new complex and it is certainly a feature welcome to the northern entrance of Wagga.”
The new 1070m track is much wider and longer than the 800m circuit at the Showgrounds, allowing field sizes to increase to 12 (eight off the front row), and feature a sprint lane in the straight.
Off the track, the elevated clubhouse will have a viewing platform over the parade ring which is next to an expansive undercover stabling area with stalls for 150 horse, five indoor and two outdoor hose-down bays and offices for vets, stewards, owners, drivers and raceday officials.
Outside is parking for 240 cars and 51 truck/trailer spots.
The Daily Advertiser was given a tour of the venue this week. Ladex site supervisor Justin Milliner said 95 percent of the work has been done by local contractors. Some 200,000 cubic metres of dirt have been moved.
The bulk of the building should be completed by Christmas allowing time for landscaping to be done and then testing of the track and facilities before trials in February ahead of the opening day in March.
The Wagga Cup will be pushed back around six weeks to become an Easter extravaganza.
“Our biggest meeting each season is the Carnival of Cups which has been switched to Easter Sunday, April 21,” White said.
“This way the new complex can be showcased before an expected huge opening crowd and again for the Carnival of Cups.”
The change of date will also give the club two major meetings in its first two months with the Sunday March 10 meeting also set to feature races for higher-than-usual prizemoney, including a race restricted to local horses and a Best of the Bush series.
The stables at Riverina Paceway will also cater for mini trotters.
“The stalls are spacious with room for the mini trotting fraternity to have their horses in the same complex,” White said.
“The young mini trotting drivers are the future of harness racing and we want them to be a major part of the new facility which is why they will have their own modernised race stalls.”
After more than a decade of planning, the opening of the Cartwrights Hill venue will be the a step into the future.
Following this Saturday’s meeting at the Showgrounds, the Wagga Harness Racing Club will have two more race nights to mark the end of an era, with the Christmas party meeting on Friday December 14 and a finale on Saturday night, December 22
“Racing has been held at the Showgrounds for decades and at the current track for more than 20 years so it will be good to give racing here a fitting farewell,” White said.
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