Race day change hoped to stop drain
JORDAN GERRANS CAIRNS greyhound officials have put a proposal to Racing Queensland to race on Saturday nights instead of Fridays, to help stop the cancellation of meetings.
Since the recent Cairns Amateurs Cup carnival, the local greyhound club has had to cancel more meetings than it has actually run at its Cairns Jockey Club track. Strong Townsville feature race fields and the illness of a prominent Cairns trainer have contributed to reduced nominations over the past few months.
The meeting set down for last night was cancelled due to lack of sufficient nominations, with 30 greyhounds needed to run a meeting.
Cairns Greyhound Racing Club acting president Jeff Down says the proposal was put to Racing Queensland this week, with potential Saturday meetings likely to bring more trainers up from Townsville.
“A few of the Townsville trainers have said they will support racing on Saturday, but they cannot come on Fridays, as they have to take a day off work for their local Tuesday meetings,” Down said.
“The Cairns Jockey Club have ticked off us using the track on a Saturday instead of a Friday.
“I am more than confident that Saturday would give us a big boost of people.”
The local club is also considering a three-month recess over Christmas.