THE Marburg Pacing Association have begun hosting Albion Park events, while the venue is closed due to flood damage.
Marburg Pacing Secretary Denis Smith said that it was unknown at this stage how long repairs to the Albion Park track would take.
“Marburg is now hosting race days that Albion would usually hold,” Denis said.
Marburg hosted two days last week, more this week and more again next week at this point.
Denis said that most of the horses racing last Friday came out of the Marburg Association’s footprint.
“The track here at Marburg is holding up extremely well thanks to the effort from Track Curator John Ballin.
“John has been a great help to the association for many years and the track is in good nick and that the drivers have good words to say about it.”
Currently, trainers are also using the Marburg track to train.
“The track held up well after the flood event, I came over on the Monday after the weekend of heavy rain and it was good.”
To maintain the track, John visits three days a week to prepare it for the race days.
“I do enjoy maintaining the track, I have been doing it now for two years and during this time I have met many people and have enjoyed each and every training day and race day that Marburg has held,” he said.
“I have trained horses all of my life and share a great passion for the sport.”
Normally, John would also travel to Albion to assist in the track maintenance.
Viewing the damage was quite upsetting for John.
“The track at Albion was completely submerged and in some areas the surface was taken away, so most of this will have to be rebuilt.
“Also, the buildings were under water up to four metres in depth so all of the electrics are affected.
“Overall, there is a fair bit of work to get things back on track.”
On Friday, the Marburg racecourse was ‘alive’ with horses, drivers and trainers who do not visit Marburg too often.
Brendan Barnes is a regular driver at Albion Park and described the Marburg track as one which is “a great track to fall back on”.
“I have been to Marburg a few times, and I do enjoy coming out here.
“It is not usually a place where we would bring the horses we have today, but it is nice to show them something different.
“It is not good to see the damage that was caused at Albion but works are underway to get it back to where it should be.”
Also, on the track was Tim Gillespie from Minden.
Tim has been racing for 30 years and said that it was great to see everyone at Marburg because the track “is just beautiful”.
“Marburg is a great place to train horses and, in many ways, it is the backbone of the racing industry with fantastic dedicated volunteers who work hard behind the scenes to bring everything together,” he said.
“Many of the bread and butter trainer’s own properties in town, and have moved out this way now.
“Marburg is a great training establishment for them in ways such as the open space, the country atmosphere, the track and the people who get behind them on the sideline.”
