Caulfield in race against clock to fix new jockeys’ room, mounting yard precinct
Melbourne Racing Club is in a race against the clock to renovate jockeys’ rooms at Caulfield before the spring carnival.
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Melbourne Racing Club is in a race against the clock to renovate jockeys’ rooms at Caulfield before the spring carnival.
The board must decide this week if remediation works, on the new male jockeys’ room in particular, could be completed without disruption before the Caulfield Cup Carnival.
The spring carnival starts at Caulfield on August 31 with the Group 1 Memsie Stakes.
The size of the jockeys’ room has caused frustration since the new mounting yard precinct opened last March.
The room, “not fit for purpose” according to multiple industry sources, has already proven too cramped for winter Saturday races.
A designated sleep room has been used as an overflow area for jockeys.
A major race card would typically attract more than 30 jockeys, including interstate riders.
The Bletchingly Stakes card a fortnight ago had 30 jockeys — 26 men — in attendance.
The current digs accommodate for about 20 jockeys comfortably.
Top riders especially, based on workload, need room to set and weigh saddles and gear multiple races in advance.
Proposed works include the removal of a wall to expand the male’s jockeys’ room.
A recreational space and kitchen for jockeys would be reduced in size as a result.
The female jockeys’ room, the same size as the men’s currently to cater for future demand, would be unaffected.
The MRC has consulted the Victorian Jockeys’ Association on works but approval rests with a board torn between making the changes and stress testing new facilities in the spring.
MRC chairman Matt Cain said discussions were ongoing with the Victorian Jockeys Association (VJA) and board.
“We are working with the VJA to see if we can get it done in time,” Cain said.
“It’s just a case of how much disruption there is, there’s permits required, we’ve come to an agreement we can fix what they want but again it’s depending on the disruption.
“We’ll have to make a call this week on whether it can be done in time, if it’s going to be too disruptive for the carnival, it will have to wait, but if we can get it done in time we will.”
The $64m new mounting yard precinct, including trainers’ lounge, scales area, stewards’ room and winning owners’ bar, is the first stage of an MRC-funded $300m redevelopment.
The functionality of trainer and jockey areas has been questioned by sources.
The new mounting yard generally has drawn the ire of participants, members and punters.
Speculation the old mounting yard could be used for spring has increased in recent weeks but remains a most unlikely scenario.
Cain confirmed the board has considered ways to parade horses in front of members in the grandstand but the removal of old mounting yard infrastructure limits options.
“We’ve moved all the technology, all the infrastructure, to the new mounting yard and we want to spring test it,” Cain said.
“That area, which was a mounting yard area for the industry, we have given back to the members and we’re very committed to giving that to the members.
“We’ve spent $64m to get (stage one) all together and right, we don’t want to be spending money until we test it during the carnival and see how it’s gone.
“My view is we want to test the entire infrastructure we’ve got in place over the spring, when we’ve got a full crowd and see how the crowd moves.
“See where the members are, see what they like and what they don’t like, and once they’ve determined that we’ll work on what we tweak, what we build and what we don’t build.”
A winner’s lane, chute in front of the grandstand from the finishing post to the new mounting yard, is part of future plans.
Originally published as Caulfield in race against clock to fix new jockeys’ room, mounting yard precinct
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