Ballarat Polytrack Racetrack Opens
The new Martin Collins Polytrack gives all-weather and all-year round racing, putting Ballarat on the map as one of the great racing headquarters in Victoria, Australia.
“This is a wonderful addition to the racecourse here at Ballarat,’’ Pakula said. ‘’A new synthetic track with a $4 million contribution from the State Government along with $6 million from Racing Victoria, Country Racing Victoria and the Ballarat Turf Club. We’ve already seen the benefits of the track with a meeting having to be transferred to it on the weekend.”
Kruger said the ever-improving facilities at Ballarat was attracting some of the best trainers.
“The training centre obviously already had some great assets and has attracted a lot of fantastic young trainers here already, but I think the Polytrack is going to be another step forward for them,’’ Kruger said.
“It’s a great endorsment from Tony McEvoy announcing that he’s going to be building some new stables here so I think it’s onwards and upwards for Ballarat and not just for Ballarat, the whole region and the industry generally, I think. We think we have been building the right foundations here and obviously prizemoney is part of it, but facilities are obviously really important and I think Tony McEvoy has seen that Victorian racing has a really bright future.’’
Pakula said McEvoy’s relocation to Ballarat was signficant. ‘’It is really exciting to have a major trainer like Tony McEvoy move his operation here to Ballarat,’’ he said “Now with Archie Alexander, Matt Cumani, Ciaron Maher and now Tony McEvoy, Ballarat becomes a really exciting training centre for racing in this state.’’
The Ballarat Turf Club’s chief executive Lachlan McKenzie said he was thrilled to see the track brought into action five days before its official opening.
“To be able to move last Sunday’s Mother’s Day meeting onto the new Polytrack after 70mls of rain on Thursday and Friday just shows how important these tracks are because that race meeting would have been lost. We wouldn’t have been able to run on the turf. So, its proven its worth from day one. From a training perspective, it’s a huge bonus for our trainers. It gives them the opportunity to work their horses in all weathers in a circular direction.
