Mornington Racing Club
Located only 45 minutes from Melbourne and at the gateway to the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, the Mornington Racing Club is fast becoming the premier destination for thoroughbred racing, corporate entertaining and major events.
Voted the Number One 1 Country Racecourse in Victoria on three occasions, the Mornington Racing Club will host 20 race meetings with over $2.3m in prizemoney for season 2009 / 2010. With this prizemoney on offer we are sure to attract some the best horses, trainers and jockeys in Australia.
Track Upgrade
The Committee of the Mornington Racing Club has decided to undertake a major upgrade of the course proper immediately following the 2010 Luxbet.com Mornington Cup.
Over the past two years, three meetings including the important T'Gallant Peninsula Cup and AFL Grand Final Day meetings have been cancelled due to the state of the track. In addition, the club has raced many meetings on tracks rated a Heavy 8 or worse, which in turn has significantly affected starter numbers and, therefore, turnover.
The project will involve removing the top layer of soil and replacing it with a faster draining profile.This soil will be mixed with the layer below, creating an overall profile that will drain at effective rate.In addition to the new soil, a new drainage network including over 20km of drains will be installed.
The final layer will be a completely new kikuyu based grass surface, which is currently being grown on a plot at Skye.
Upon completion of the project, the club will have a surface that drains at approximately 70 to 80mm per hour, which the Club and industry turf consultants believe is the appropriate rate for a club that has a large percentage of its meetings over the summer period.
While this project means that 5 meetings will have to be transferred, the Committee believes that the track upgraed will allow the club to reliably race throughout the year, attract more runners and better quality fields and ultimately enable the Club to host in excess of 20 meetings per annum.