Seymour track given extra time to improve

The Seymour racetrack has been given extra time to regenerate, resulting in the transfer of four meetings.

The track came in for criticism when last raced on in April, its first meeting since December 2017, when large clods of turf were dislodged.

Following testing and analysis, Racing Victoria and the Seymour Racing Club agreed on an improvement plan to be implemented over eight months.

In allowing more consolidation time, the Seymour Cup, programmed for October 21, will not be staged during the 2018-19 season.

But a $200,000 Listed race over 1600m will be staged at the transferred meeting to be run at Cranbourne that day while meetings scheduled for August 18, September 6 and October 4 have been scheduled for other country venues.

“We will continue to do everything in our power to get the track up and running again and we expect to see a return to racing here at Seymour in November,” SRC chief executive Penny Reeve said.

A return to racing at Seymour is scheduled for November 1 subject to the successful completion of jump-outs.