Races enthusiastically embraced

For Seymour Racing Club president Steve Clifton, it was a relief to see the day go off without a hitch.

“We spent the last four days frantically getting things back up to race day readiness and that has been an eye-opener because we haven’t raced for two years,” Mr Clifton said.

Despite some flooding at the track in the lead-up to the event, the feedback Mr Clifton received on the day was overwhelmingly positive.

“We’ve got about five blokes that oversaw all the reconstruction over the last two years from Melbourne Racing Club. They’ve come and had a look at it now and they were very happy with it,” he said.

“As far as I could tell from them and the jockeys, they’re all ecstatic. They reckon it is one of the best surfaces they’ve raced on.

“Especially after all the wet weather and all the rain, it’s pretty hard to do that, but they are very happy.”

The strong turnout was reassuring to the team which had been working throughout the resurfacing process to get Seymour back racing.

The uptake of the meet by local racegoers was so strong that the club had to put extra staff on the gate to help with entry and the Bar Landy Restaurant was also full.

“This was going to be our quiet little lead into the racing scene again but, as you can see, the local public just love coming here and having a day out,” Mr Clifton said.

“It’s reflected by the crowd, even outside. For a working day, we’ve got great numbers.”