For the third straight year, the Adelaide River Show Society Race Club in the NT didn’t stage its Cup Day meeting due to the condition of the track.
Speculation mounts that Adelaide River, located 100km south of Darwin, may never host another meeting on the NT’s only grassed-surface unless significant improvements are made to the track.
The ARSSRC had previously hosted its annual meeting in early June, but it was switched to late August.
The meeting scheduled for Saturday was abandoned with Thoroughbred Racing NT bringing the Darwin meeting set for September 7 forward to fill the void.
Feral pigs damaged the Adelaide River track in 2022.
It was impossible to prepare the track in 2023 with 1.7m of rain falling during the wet season.
Darwin was the venue for the 2022 and 2023 Adelaide River Cup meetings – there was no Cup scheduled for 2024.
Previously, Adelaide River hosted two meetings a year, but that ended in 2017.
Cup Day in 2018 was abandoned after two races due to the state of the track following wet season rains, while Covid stopped the show in 2020.
Adelaide River’s last meeting was held in 2021.
TRNT and the ARSSRC have turned to a consultant, they’re finalising a proposal after inspecting the track.
“We’d all like to see Adelaide River back in condition for racing, but at the moment it’s far from that,” TRNT chief executive officer Andrew O’Toole said.
“It’s uneven because it’s obviously had pig damage where they have harrowed up certain areas of the track – there’s also areas where there’s poor grass growth.
“We’re hopeful of racing again at Adelaide River, but it’s going to come down to whether it is possible and obviously what it is going to cost.”
It was due to the wet season that a decision was made to transfer Cup Day to August because preparing the track for the June meeting proved a hurdle.
“You couldn’t put machinery on the track, but you needed to mow the grass so the surface could dry,” O’Toole added.
“The Adelaide River committee is going to try and get it raceable for next year, but they need to get on to it now before the rains come.
“You could probably keep on top of it until Christmas time, but the track is on a flood plain, you’re devoid of run-off, and there’s every chance you may not be able to get on it until March or April after the rains.”
Iconic NT race meetings at Pine Creek and Barrow Creek have fallen by the wayside – hopefully that won’t be the case with Adelaide River.
“In all honesty if it’s going to cost too much to get the track to a raceable level and then maintain it to that level every year you’ve got to face facts,” O’Toole said.
“It was suggested to them that they rip up the track and put a sand track in.
“Some thought it was a good idea, the rest said they wanted to maintain it because it’s the only grass track in the Territory.”
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