The club has been unable to host meetings for the past two-and-a-half years due to problems that stemmed from an unsuccessful track redevelopment back in 2015.
Since its last race day in July 2020, the club has been hard at work to ensure the track is up to standard, and in August confirmed that November 11 would be the day it would welcome racing back to the venue.
It an event that has been a long time in the making for all involved. Seymour Racing Club chief executive Brett Shambrook said he had full confidence it would be a successful return to the track on Friday.
“There is a lot of work going on at the moment to ensure everything is perfect, it has been over two years since we’ve hosted a meet so there is a lot to be done,” Shambrook said.
“Being the first one back we are looking for a bit of a soft open, we just want everything to go well in terms of the track, we haven’t really marketed it much because the priority for us is ensuring the facilities are top notch.
“We are very confident in the work we’ve done that the track will hold up and we’ll have a bit more build-up to our first marquee meeting back which is our Christmas party day on Thursday, December 22.”
But despite the tempered expectations for opening day, Shambrook said it would be a thrill to see local punters file through the gates once again, with this set to be the beginning of an exciting new era for racing in Seymour.
“It has certainly been a long process and we know the local community would be disappointed to have waited such a long time to have racing at our track again, so we are so excited to finally welcome the people back,” he said.
“Seymour has got a long reputation in being an industry leader as far as racing is concerned... when the club was earmarked for the first reconstruction it was seen as a reward as there was confidence in our ability to host a large number of meetings.
“Obviously that initial project didn’t go to plan, but we are comfortable coming back to racing now we have got it right and that the club will return to being the jewel in the crown of racing in northern Victoria.
“We’ve just had a bit of a rough trot of late but we are confident we’re on the right track now.”
A herculean effort by all involved to get the track back to this point, Shambrook outlined some of the battles the club had been through over the past two years.
“It has been a couple of really tough years for the track manager Brett Thompson and the committee, they have done some serious hard yards,” he said.
“When the races finish on Friday they will breathe a big sigh of relief and they can pat themselves on the back and stick to the job in putting the difficulty of the past couple of years behind us.”
As for what the punters can expect from Friday’s meeting, he said it should serve as a taste of what’s to come as the club hopes to be a hub for racing in northern Victoria.
“We are certainly easing into it for the remainder of this season and it’s super important we take a long-term approach so we can get to a point next season where we can host our historical 18-20 meets,” he said.
“It’s not a hugely high quality meeting to start up this Friday, but in saying that our dining room is booked out and there has been a strong demand from our members to get out there for the return.
“I am very confident Friday will be a very positive outcome for the club.”
