World class facilities sees Cranbourne break records

The south-east’s much lauded harness racing training centre may need to change its name to Cwanbourne with the facility raining ‘Ws’ in record numbers.

The club will again be in the spotlight this Saturday night with an eight-race card that will see many of the local trainers hoping to add to that record tally.

Since its opening in 2012, Cranbourne trainers have produced more than 400 winners but this season’s 80-plus is a record-smashing result, far eclipsing the previous record behind the likes of Scott Ewen, Kyle Marshall and Robert Olsen.

Cranbourne Harness Racing Club president David Scott said the program is flourishing.

“Our best result was last season, where we tallied 56 winners,” he said. “We are on track to finish this year somewhere around 85, which is just a phenomenal result,” he said.

“The facility was built in 2012, specifically for two reasons – to give individuals a different training model, where they didn’t have to work off their own properties, and from our club’s perspective it was about trying to build local participations and our race fields to a sustainable level.

“This year to date we have had over 650 starters, many of whom raced locally either Cranbourne, Warragul or Yarra Valley. But in that time, we have enjoyed enormous success this season.”

The training centre has continued to evolve to help more trainers hone their craft.

“We would like to think the facilities are world class,” he said. “We offer three training tracks and various other aids to training.

“The trainers also enjoy the environment down there; they can bounce ideas off each other and enjoy each other’s company.

“We race 26 times a year (at Cranbourne), where you literally don’t get the car out of the carpark. You literally just walk your house across the yard. You can travel down to Warragul or Yarra Valley in less than an hour, something like 48 meetings a year, with little to no travel at all.”

Scott said the centre also had plenty of room to grow with a bold plan for the future.

“We are a well-placed club financially to support future investment and if we get the support from the governing body and the State Government there is no reason why we won’t continue to invest.”

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by Lachlan Mitchell, for Harness Racing Victoria