PROGRESS is being made at the Allan Scott Glenburnie Racecourse with the overhaul well under way.
The $3.3m project is edging closer to the finishing line with gravel and sand now being laid along the main track.
Promising to usher in a new era for the once troubled track, the reconstruction of the course proper is now taking shape.
The main grass has been ripped up, irrigation and subsurface drainage is being installed and a gravel blanket of 70mm is being spread across the track.
A growing medium of 230mm will be placed on the track before grass is rolled out to finish the major infrastructure project.
“We are excited by the progress of the development,” club general manager Brett Watson said.
“We are confident that short-term pain will equal long-term gain for the industry and the club for many years to come.”
Speaking trackside yesterday, Mr Watson said the Glenburnie racing facility had been a hive of activity this week with trucks funnelling into the racecourse carrying loads of sand.
“The drainage system is about 95pc done, the aggregate is two-thirds done and the laying of the sand is under way,” he said.
He said a whopping 30,000 tonnes of sand was being poured onto the course.
Mr Watson said Cocopeat – which is an organic growing matter – would also be mixed into the top 100mm of the sand.
“The sprinklers are being installed as we speak and the pump will arrive today so we will have some water on the course,” he explained.
He said late next week or the early the following week the turf would start being laid.
“Once the turf is laid, everything gets tidied up and we will let it settle for 12 months,” the racecourse manager said.
Revealing the club was confident the track upgrade would be a success, he said the track – including drainage – would be monitored closely by the club over the next 12 months.
“So we will know what it is actually doing before we start racing on it. It is designed to take a lot of water,” Mr Watson said.
“We will have a good 12 months of data showing how it reacts to amounts of rainfall and irrigation.”
The club received $1.5m from the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions Fund to progress the project and
Thoroughbred Racing SA matched the funding with a $1.8m contribution.
The redesign blueprint – including extensive new drainage and irrigation systems – has been mirrored on a number of prominent racecourses, including Morphettville, Gawler and the new Murray Bridge track.
Regional companies Gambier Earthmovers, JB Irrigation and Blue Lake Turf are undertaking the works, along with other contractors.
