The wait is almost over. After being granted approval to conduct TAB racing at their track, the day will arrive for Des McGeachie and his Taree Greyhound Racing Club on Wednesday.
Back in January the board of Greyhound Racing NSW gave its approval for Taree to host TAB race meetings, pending work to be conducted at the venue to bring it up to TAB standard.
The initial plan was to complete that work and have Taree hosting their first TAB meeting in April, running alongside their hugely successful Easter carnival.
But like it did to most things around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to those plans, but better late than never according to those on the Mid North Coast.
“It kind of helped us out in one way, giving us extra time to make sure everything was done, and we’re now ready to go,” said McGeachie, the Taree club’s president.
“We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago too, and have sorted out a few little things from there, and we’ll excited and ready to go for Wednesday.”
Among the work completed by GRNSW and its contractors to ready the track for TAB racing included: track surface renovation, kennel upgrade, with additional race bay and new kennel infrastructure, new swab room and vet room in kennel building, new wash bays.
Other work included, CCTV in kennels for integrity security, stewards’ room upgrade, safety rail installation, safety padding on bends and in the catching pen, three sets of pneumatic starting boxes and all starting infrastructure including shelters, installation of digital timing system and semaphore board.
The installation of a TV broadcast system was completed so Taree could facilitate the live coverage of racing through Sky Racing, and also thedogs.com.au’s live streaming.
Additional work was under taken by the Taree Club including, fencing, painting, seeding of the track and gardening.
Later in the year GRNSW will schedule (Phase 2) works to upgrade the lure motor and lure system and undertake further remediation of the track surface.
“Wednesday will be an exciting day for the Taree Greyhound Club, for participants on the Mid North Coast, and for Greyhound Racing NSW,” GRNSW CEO Tony Mestrov said.
“We had hoped this day would come a bit earlier with the anticipated launch of TAB racing at Taree in April, but obviously with the COVID-19 situation, everything changed.
“But the club - along with the GRNSW track team - have continued working to ensure the facility is ready for their big day, and after the Non-TAB meeting ‘dress rehearsal’ held two weeks ago, everything is readiness for Wednesday.
“Taree hosting this TAB meeting is quite significant not only for the club, but also for industry. Part of the GRNSW Strategic Plan released in 2018 stated that all participants should have access to TAB racing, and the Mid North Coast had been one region where it was lacking. It’s wonderful to see that is about to be remedied.
“I wish the club, the participants and all in the region the best of luck for what will be a huge day.”
When nominations closed for the historic meeting on Monday morning, the club had received 146 nominations, and 11 races were drawn for the meeting with the opening race at 12.07pm.
