By XAVIER SMERDON
THE WERRIBEE Cup could have been held last week, but the General Manager of the Club in charge of it does not regret postponing it to halfway through December.
Ross Kendell told Star that an inspection of the track last week showed that it would have been ready for the original scheduled date of 13 November.
But he said when it was inspected less than a week earlier it did not appear to be 100 per cent ready.
“We could have raced actually. In just one week the track has come on massively and it’s just looking absolutely fantastic,” Mr Kendell said.
“I still think it was the right thing to do though (move the Cup date), because when we get to 15 December it will really have a lot of guts to it.
“We didn’t want anyone to come out and be able to criticise it at all.”
Mr Kendell said the track, which was the recipient of a multi-million dollar redevelopment, had been put under too much stress over the last year.
“We were scheduled to have nine race meetings but if you consider a trial a meeting, which it basically is, we actually had the equivalent of 17 race meetings,” he said.
“We had taken on a hell of a lot of work and perhaps the industry got a little bit ahead of itself.
“Over the next 12 months the track simply won’t have that workload.”
Mr Kendell said he was expecting a backlash from the community when it was announced the meeting would be moved, but most members of the Club had been understanding.
He said the rescheduled meeting would actually see the Cup race offer a higher prize money of $120,000 compared to $80,000 if it was held on its intended date.
