Albany Racing Club ready to jump with first meet of the season at Percy Spencer Racecourse after track woes

The Albany Racing Club has stood by its decision to postpone the season’s opening fixture a fortnight ago, with the track raring to go for Saturday’s first meeting of the Great Southern calendar. The season was meant to start on Sunday November 3 but the meet was moved to Narrogin after the club deemed its turf unready, saying extra grass coverage was necessary for another big season at the Percy Spencer Racecourse. Saturday’s seven-race card and every race meet in Albany that follows will attract an enormous nationwide audience after WA racing struck a deal with Channel 7 to broadcast the State’s racing in 2024-25 on 7plus. New ARC president Alan Smith said the correct decision was made and the track was in pristine condition ahead of the season-opener. “I think everything’s come up good and the new track curator has given it all the OK,” Smith said. “He’s happy enough with it, and it’s improved in its growth the last few weeks, so it should be fine. “He was concerned that if we raced the first meeting, we would have dug the track up too much and it would have made it difficult to race later in the season. “It’s all systems go now and all the little issues solved, and we move forward.” The opening day will be highlighted by the $40,000 Regional Championship Heat: The Road to Ascot (1240m), which has attracted a strong field of nine runners. Hide The Oreos and Vonsnip are top weights in the field with 60kg, while Smith himself will saddle up Dynamite Bay, to be ridden by Lisa Staples. Albany trainer Rebecca Bayliss will unleash a two-pronged attack on the feature race with Hot Chatter and Invincible Power, while veteran Peter Western also has two runners — Bentley Beau and Starauthoress. Leading jockey Natasha Faithfull will partner her mother Samantha Faithfull’s horse Vonsnip, while Albany-raised hoop Casey Hunter will also make a return to the riding ranks in the region. Hunter will ride four horses for her father and local trainer Paul Hunter, while also jumping aboard two runners for Roy Rogers. Despite the later-than-usual start, Smith believes the upcoming season is sure to attract big crowds, with numerous feature events on the calendar. “The Fitzpatrick Plate, the Albany Cup on Easter Sunday and The Bluff Knoll in the middle of March are the feature races for the season,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll all be going ahead. We still have to do a bit of homework on The Bluff Knoll, but we will be moving forward with that shortly. “We’re trying to encourage crowds to come out there. Racing is on a high Australia-wide so I don’t see why we can’t dovetail those effects, and have a good community effort all the time.” Albany’s season-opener begins at 2.07pm on Saturday.