St Arnaud’s annual cup meeting will be run on Sunday, March 5, after Harness Racing Victoria (HRV), the Swan Hill club and St Arnaud successfully negotiated the date swap.
Swan Hill was initially down to race that Sunday but its committee agreed to move to an earlier date, freeing up the March 5 timeslot for St Arnaud, whose cup program was washed out at the weekend.
“It’s a great result,” St Arnaud secretary Kaye Boyd said.
“We are very keen to have another go. I’m calling it Take 2! Everybody around town is asking about it. I’ve had umpteen people asking whether we’re getting another go, so I’m really pleased we are.”
Ms Boyd said the community was “100 per cent” behind St Arnaud’s cup meeting and she expects a big crowd will be on hand come March 5.
The disappointment of losing Sunday’s meeting following an overnight downpour of rain was obvious on the faces of the club’s hard-working committee and volunteers, Ms Boyd said.
“I wasn’t the only one disappointed. You could see it on everybody’s face when we all went out for a meal on the Sunday night. But these things happen and we’re very thankful to all those who helped us get that second chance, especially HRV and the Swan Hill Club for allowing us that date.”
HRV Interim General Manager of Operations Shane Gloury said he was pleased St Arnaud was able to have another crack at running a successful cup day.
“The whole team at St Arnaud put a lot of effort into promoting and organising cup day and it really was bad luck that they weren’t able to race,” Mr Gloury said.
“I must thank the Swan Hill Club for working proactively with HRV to ensure this date was available. Our clubs are always only too willing to help each other in these circumstances and we hope the whole community gets behind St Arnaud in March.”
Mr Gloury also reiterated HRV’s commitment to pay to pay all drivers’ fees from Sunday and make a ‘meeting abandonment payment’ to each trainer who had a runner engaged.
“Trainers and drivers work hard and to lose their earning opportunity due to the weather is horrible luck. We feel it is the right thing to do to compensate our participants in these circumstances.”
Cody Winnell (HRV Media/Communications Manager)
Harness Racing Victoria