It has been a great year for Ballarat racing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trainers like Darren Weir have gone from success to success, further adding to the renown of the Dowling Forest precinct.
His group one successes have continued to put his name and facility on the national stage.
In an industry where success breeds success, new horse owners keen to share in that success must be looking with interest at an area unencumbered by the congestion and spiraling land cost of city training facilities. This growth and investment can only be good for greater Ballarat.
Despite the initial false starts over the year for the Ballarat track, it is fitting that with this rising reputation, Ballarat racing’s biggest race day takes on a new status and prestige.
Ballarat could even be said to have come of age with its stand-alone Saturday event becoming the major fixture across the state on the last weekend in November. And with that newly achieved maturity it is also pleasing to note that without any loss of glamour or fun, the event has taken on an even more civilised and family-friendly atmosphere.
While there are always some who the spirit of the day carries a step too far down the path of Bacchanalian riot, the relative calm of the aftermath and the testimony of the police show Ballarat’s young and restless were largely well behaved. To be able to achieve big-city sophistication without its attendant cost and ugliness help cement a reputation of a great day’s racing that has not lost the easy magic of a country meeting.
To the racing purist this flurry of spring activity and excitement, of millinery and couture, must all seem peripheral to the racing.
However, it cannot be denied it is the one time of year when the broader public gravitates to and revels in a day at the races. Nothing has done more to cement the place of racing in the hearts of Australians than the rise and rise of the social side of the sport. While the intrinsic funding of the sport may come from gambling, and falls and horse deaths show it is still a dangerous activity, it is the success of racing as a social event that will continue to breathe new life into the industry.
Ballarat has shown how successful such an event can be and how enduring its benefits to the wider city.