For the third time in the past five years, the Adelaide River Cup meeting will not go ahead at its usual home in the Northern Territory.
The race meeting is held annually on the first Saturday in June by the Adelaide River Show Society and with an adjoining caravan park it normally attracts a very healthy crowd.
Adelaide River is approximately 100km south of Darwin and the racetrack itself is the only grassed surface in the Northern Territory.
In 2018, the race meeting was abandoned after just two races due to the surface of the track.
A lot of water had been retained underneath the track, so when horses cut through the top of the surface it chopped up badly.
After cutting the grass leading up to the race meeting it was determined that there hadn’t been enough time for the track surface to dry.
The 2020 meeting was abandoned because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, the 2022 event scheduled for June 4 at Adelaide River could not proceed due to significant damage to the track surface caused by feral pigs.
David Hensler, Chairman of Stewards on behalf of Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory (TRNT), inspected the track in late April and described the damage caused by the pigs as catastrophic.
Large sections of the track were affected, with the turf and roots completely dug out.
The good news for the Adelaide River Show Society is that the race meeting will still go ahead at Darwin’s Fannie Bay on June 4.
In a statement, TRNT said that a majority of the horses that would normally race at Adelaide River are trained in Darwin – hence the retention of the race day – so as not to inconvenience horses and participants preparing for the upcoming Darwin Cup Carnival was crucial.
“David Hensler went down as he would normally do,” TRNT chief executive officer Andrew O’Toole said.
“The Adelaide River Show Society had mown the track before he got there and between mowing it and him getting there that’s when the pigs got in.”
O’Toole added that the damage to the Adelaide River track was quite extensive and the decision to transfer the meeting to Fannie Bay was the only option.
“The track was affected at the crossing out of the home straight, which is normally where the pigs damage it,” he said.
“There were a couple of places down the back straight, as well as a section off the turn off the back straight and one on the home turn.
“This is in about five different places and they’ve gone through it like an excavator.
“The pigs made a nice old mess of it and dug it up – the jockeys wouldn’t ride on it and there’s the risk of horses breaking down.
“So the decision was fairly easy – it was taken out of our hands.”
The Adelaide River Show Society used to race before and after the Darwin Cup Carnival before being reduced to just one meeting as from 2018.
It was felt that it was hard to keep the track watered, that the second meeting in late August was poorly patronised, that the second meeting was difficult for the ARSS committee to organise, and that it was not financially viable.
Looking to 2023, preparations have already started to ensure that the Adelaide River meeting goes ahead as scheduled without any further incidents or complications.
“We are doing a report for the board regarding what we believe is the best way forward, which includes the possibility of fencing the property and keeping the pigs out,” O’Toole said.
“We’ve had some quotes to re-fence the track and get the right kind of fencing so the pigs won’t burrow under it – so yeah, there’s a few things we’re looking at.
“We’ll then need to engage a turf specialist to come and have a look at the damage caused and the best way to rectify that.
“We’ve had pig damage there in the past, but nothing like this – it was only ever in one place.
“We’d be hopeful that we could get back to racing at Adelaide River in 2023, but there’s obviously quite a bit of work and expense to go into it before we get to that stage.”
As O’Toole stressed, no one could be blamed for the poor surface in 2018, Covid in 2020 and the pigs this year which has once again denied the Adelaide River community of its big day.
“We’re not blaming the Adelaide River Show Society, we’re not blaming anyone,” he said.
“They’ve had a bad run and they’ve been dealt another body blow, but this one is beyond anyone’s control or comprehension.
“It’s just one of those things – you can’t do anything about it.
“They weren’t happy, but anyway the Adelaide River Cup meeting will still go ahead next Saturday in Darwin.
“Fingers crossed we can get back to Adelaide River next year.”
It is expected that the Adelaide River Cup meeting on Saturday will accommodate a seven-race program.
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