While Sundays at Seymour often feature top quality racing, Racing Victoria announced in a statement last Friday that the meeting would be moved to Friday, February 20, moving in line with an industry-wide bushfire fundraising event.
“Racing Victoria (RV) wishes to advise that the meeting scheduled for Bet365 Seymour on Sunday, 15 February will now be held on Friday, 20 February to align with an on-course fundraising event, to support bushfire affected communities and to recognise the efforts of our first responders,” the statement said.
“Moving the Bet365 Seymour meeting will help maximise fundraising opportunities, for those who played a vital role in assisting not only the horse racing industry, but communities across Victoria that were impacted by the recent bushfires.
“Racing Victoria and Country Racing Victoria recognise the extraordinary efforts of our first responders and volunteers who worked tirelessly in the most challenging of conditions to safeguard lives, property and livestock.”
The industry fundraiser at Seymour comes following Seymour Racing Club’s recent CFA Appreciation Day, held on Thursday, January 15, which saw the club donate and match dollar for dollar all admission fees to the Whiteheads Creek-Tarcombe CFA, raising $5000.
A number of properties connected to the racing industry were affected by the recent Longwood bushfire too, most notably the Lindsay Park Racing operation at Creightons Creek, which lost seven horses and more than 90 per cent of the property in the blaze, while Longwood Thoroughbred Farm and Leneva Farm at Longwood East were forced to evacuate horses from the property.
The rescheduled Seymour meeting will now run alongside meetings at Terang and Southside Cranbourne (night) on the same day, while all existing details such as prizemoney and race distances remain unaffected.
Seymour was also set to have official trials on Monday, February 16, which will be moved to a different venue which is to be confirmed in the coming weeks, while a track renovation that was scheduled for Tuesday, February 17 will now occur following the rescheduled meeting on Friday, February 20.
Seymour Racing Club’s race meeting for Tuesday, February 3, will go ahead unchanged, with an eight-race card set to deliver another action-packed day on the track.
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