Racing set to return to Caulfield racecourse

After a seven-month-long hiatus, racing is set to return to Caulfield with a newly refurbished track that received positive feedback during its inaugural Tuesday morning gallops.

This marked an essential milestone, as the course had not been used since the Zipping Classic meeting late last year.

Jockey Jamie Mott lauded the renovated track saying, “It felt fantastic, given two horses a nice gallop around there and it’s like an absolute carpet, really happy with it. The track was probably a Good 4, not only does it look good, but it felt really good under foot as well. Big tick, couldn’t be happier with it and obviously looking forward to getting back here.”

Melbourne Racing Club General Manager of Racecourses, Jason Kerr, echoed Mott’s sentiments about the track’s quality.

The course, which has been under noisy, dusty construction for the past seven months, has finally seen the return of horses, to everyone’s delight.

“It was great to get some horses back… We only had six on it but had some great feedback. They said it was pretty seamless going from the rebuilt areas onto the existing course proper,” said Kerr.

The inaugural gallop also marked the first time the new inner Caulfield Heath track was walked on, with jockeys and trainers expressing anticipation for how the tighter track would fare during races.

However, horses won’t be exposed to this new inner track until early next year, with racing expected to commence in April.

“We’re tipping it’ll be in pretty good condition early in 2024 when we can get onto it.” Kerr added.