‘Big wet’ is wreaking havoc

Harness racing operations have been thrown into chaos for clubs, participants and authorities as a flooding crisis continues to unfold across large areas of Victoria.

The winter and spring have been one of the wettest on record across eastern Australia, and a two-day deluge on already-sodden catchments and properties has left a trail of damage, inundated homes and barns and forced a number of trainers to evacuate their properties.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported falls in the 24 to 36 hour period from last Wednesday (Oct 12) of up to 125 millimetres (five inches) in many areas of the State. With catchments and dams already full, the record rainfall was a disaster many expected, but were able to do little to mitigate.

There are currently 66 flood warnings in place across Victoria, and almost 500 road closures listed on the VicRoads website.

The heavy rain began on Wednesday, and although the Echuca Club, in the far north of Victoria, managed to run the first seven of its scheduled races in driving rain, stewards called a halt to the final two races due to heavy falls and the dangerous state of the track.

Meetings were then abandoned at Kilmore and Hamilton on Thursday, while Geelong on Friday and Melton on Saturday were able to proceed as scheduled.  Those two meetings had significant numbers of late scratchings from stables in flood-impacted areas, with Maryborough’s meeting yesterday recording 20 late scratchings.

Thousands of homes in Shepparton and Echuca are currently inundated or cut off amid the worsening emergency, with some rivers not expected to reach their peak until today. Approximately 6000 properties in that region were expected to be impacted, with further widespread areas left without power.

Several major stables in the Goulburn Valley region at Echuca and Shepparton were forced to relocate their teams as the floodwaters rose.

Trainers across central, eastern and southern Victoria reported significant damage to infrastructure such as training tracks and fencing and will be counting the cost and repairing the damage for weeks.

At Charlton, in north central Victoria, the flood situation is not expected to peak until today, but the club’s stabling area has been inundated, with HRV transferring the Charlton meeting scheduled for Wednesday to Maryborough.

The club posted last night that it appreciated the offers of support, that all horses and participants were safe and the Charlton locals were “hanging in there”.

Aldebaran Park studmaster Duncan McPherson experienced an extreme 24-hours: a Group 1 Victorian Oaks victory at Tabcorp Park Melton with Aldebaran Keepa (Kadabra), while his team, headed by Danny and Melinda Thackeray, were battling the floods at Nagambie.

An urgent call went out on social media on Saturday for “boats, floats, anything for Aldebaran Park and neighbors…need a 4wd to get here, need horse floats and paddocks to put horses in…about 75 horses to be moved”.  A huge response allowed all horses to be moved to safety by Saturday evening.

McPherson summed up the resilience of “an industry which bands together” in a social media post yesterday:

“The floods took hold and adjoining farms, along with ours succumbed to Mother Nature.  Fortunately, with the collective help of Melinda and Danny and all the team at Aldebaran Park, along with our neighbors and all those who responded to our emergency evacuation advice, all the mares, foals and stallions were saved and evacuated without loss.  To everybody, thank you, overwhelming and outstanding.  A big cleanup ahead – a lot of water to subside in following weeks – just not more rain please!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink