November 12, 2020

The Canterbury Park course proper has undergone a major renovation as the Australian Turf Club prepares to launch its hugely popular Kia Friday Night Racing Season tomorrow.

Schweppes Opening Night at Canterbury Park has attracted 112 entries over eight races, with seven races featuring capacity fields, including the $80,000 Kia Fleet Edge Evening Star.

The large-sized fields will race on a surface which over the past six weeks has seen the entire course proper undergo a range of measures, including extensive sand grooving to improve drainage.

“Canterbury Park has always been one of the leading surfaces in Sydney and it is timely to utilise this recent break in fixtures to undertake the first full scale renovation in many years,” James Ross, Australian Turf Club Executive General Manager of Racing and Wagering said.

“Since the last meeting on 5 October, every part of the racing surface has been aggressively renovated and the track has responded very well, presenting a uniform and rejuvenated cover ahead of the busy night racing season.”

A full track report recorded this morning with Canterbury Park Racecourse Manager Greg Carmody is available here:

Ten meetings are scheduled during the Kia Friday Night Racing Season through Sydney summer months, with the season finishing with three consecutive Friday nights in February.

Patrons and guests are encouraged to register their attendance at TheRaces.com.au with a limited number of tickets available to meet a COVID capacity of 4,000 spectators.

The Canterbury Park course proper renovation comes as further investment into a second Sydney track has begun.

The Warwick Farm course proper will undergo a similar renovation, with the course proper fully cut back, double-cored, the surface scarified and a full top-dressing of the circuit laid.

In late November, Warwick Farm’s main grass training surface, the A-Grass, will be fully replaced under a $1.5 million joint project between the Australian Turf Club and Racing NSW.