THREE extra TAB Race Meetings have been planned for the Home Hill Race Track before the end of the year, on top of their usual meetings, as they help the Townsville Turf Club to reduce the amount of usage of their track at Cluden in the City.
After hosting their first TAB meeting in Home Hill on Thursday, August 31, the Burdekin Club Secretary, Leanne Gudge was advised that the club had been allocated further TAB Race Dates on
- Thursday, October 12, 2023
- Tuesday, November 28, 2023 and on
- Thursday, December 28, 2023
due to Townsville track renovations.
Those race dates are on top of already nominated race days of
- Derby Day on Saturday, November 4; 2023
- Saturday, December 9, 2023 (in place of a Charters Towers meeting);
- Saturday, February 17, 2024,
- Saturday, April 6, 2024; and
- the Growers Race Day to be held on Saturday, May 18, 2024.
The first TAB race day has already been held on Thursday, October 12 with Mr Gudge saying they had received good reports back about the meeting.
Because of the amount of usage of the Townsville Track recently, the Home Hill Club has agreed to assist the Townsville Club to reduce that usage by hosting jump outs and track gallops locally, with a number of Townsville trainers planning to bring young horses down to Home Hill.
The next major meeting in Home Hill will be Derby Day on Saturday, November 4, with the Club already guaranteed success with the Ladies Day component having sold out in three weeks, with over 400 ladies having already paid to attend the meeting.
Mr Gudge said they were “really happy” with the support they were receiving for the meeting, with three of the six races to be “Memorial” events dedicated to former club members.
Known as the “Justin Scott Race Day”, which will be sponsored by True North Interiors, the Memorial Races will remember Bill (Cody) Prizeman; Russ Reguson and Justin Scott, with the Justin Scott Memorial to be the last race on the program over 1830 metres.
Derby Day will also feature fashion awards for the Classic, Trendsetter and Men’s sections.
There will be six bookmakers fielding on the day and the Club is endeavouring to provide entertainment for the children in attendance at what will be a family day.
Club members held a working bee at the track at the end of October to ensure everything was in readiness for the busy period on the track, starting with Derby Day on Saturday, November 4, 2023.
