Cannon Park set to pick up races

CAIRNS’ Cannon Park is in line to pick at least one of the Cluden Park displaced race meetings over the next month.

Townsville Turf Club officials, in conjunction with Racing Queensland, located root growth issues, along with weed, seed and insect infestation, with remediation work likely to postpone race meetings until early April.

A meeting set for yesterday was lost while their March 2 meeting has been transferred south to Bowen.

Townsville is programmed to host three more meetings in March, with the Saturday meeting of the 30th likely to be sent to the Far North.

CJC are keen to pick up as many meetings as possible but with their own scheduled meeting for the 16th a day after Townsville’s on the 15th, it is unlikely they will pick up any more.

CJC general manager John Cameron believes the Cannon Park track could handle several transferred meetings, but are likely to land just one.

“The track is in magnificent order at the minute following the recent heavy rain and now the heat and wind we are having,” Cameron said.

“We would like to have two meetings from Townsville but we are happy to get one on a Saturday, which will be great for us.”

Cairns trainer Rhonda Inreview glis backed up the CJC’s calls for Cannon Park to pick up a few of Townsville’s upcoming race meetings.

“I think the boss has done well to get the drainage in our track and I think Racing Queensland needs to give us Cairns trainers a bit of a go,” Inglis said. “We travel hundreds of kilometres up here and Mackay is too far for us to travel, if the Townsville meetings go that way.

“Hopefully a few meetings can come our way.”

CJC’s meeting for Tuesday February 26 also has an additional race added to the program, a QTIS 2yo Maiden Plate 950m, worth $19,000. The meeting will now comprise an eight-race program.