Frost Park failure as Mt Barker Turf Club stripped of final two meets by Racing WA due to safety concerns

Racing WA has sensationally stripped Mt Barker Turf Club of its final two race meetings of the season due to ongoing concerns with the safety of the track. The track has come under heavy scrutiny this season after the first two meetings of the season were cancelled when stewards deemed the Frost Park track unsafe during an inspection. Mt Barker Turf Club was scheduled to host a meeting on Saturday but Racing WA chief racing officer David Hunter said poor track management left them no choice but to remove the event from the course. “The club has not maintained the Mt Barker track adequately since their last race meeting and stewards decided the surface is not suitable for racing on Saturday,” Mr Hunter said. “Furthermore, given Racing WA’s ongoing concerns with the management of the track surface, the remaining race meeting scheduled at Mt Barker this season will now also be run at Albany.” Racing WA is relocating the Mt Barker Turf Club race meetings scheduled for February 17 and March 16 to Albany Racing Club. The March 16 meeting is headlined by the $35,000 Mt Barker Cup. Mt Barker Turf Club president Steve Carter admitted he flagged the inspection with Racing WA following his concerns about the track’s safety ahead of Saturday’s event. “Water has been an issue up here, particularly with a short winter and long hot summer,” Carter said. “We called the stewards in to get them to make an assessment and we were happy to go with their decision because of their factors. “It’s disappointing obviously but there was doubt that the track would be up for this weekend and the stewards doubted whether it would get up for the cup meeting in March. “In the interest of the industry they need to make a decision early to transfer to an appropriate club.” The Mt Barker Turf Club called an unscheduled committee meeting for Monday night to discuss its way forward in the hope of avoiding the problem in the future.