Nowra is the latest NSW greyhound track to benefit from infrastructure and safety upgrades, with the Shoalhaven Greyhound Racing Club set for installation of a full new running rail and lure system.
Greyhound NSW (GRNSW) Chief Executive Officer Rob Macaulay announced on Monday that the Pinebowl track will undergo the upgrade in October as part of GRNSW’s commitment to continuous safety improvement at its racetracks.
“This is an important upgrade to the track at Nowra, and one that was desirable in the ongoing chase for world’s best standards,” Mr Macaulay said. “The entire rail at Nowra will be replaced and a new Safechase lure system will also be installed. Nowra is already a very safe track, so we are only slightly modifying the system to introduce transitions, improved camber and a brand new design post and rail system.”
“The work will commence on October 17, and the plan is to have the least impact as possible on the South Coast participants with a practical completion date of October 27.”
After an extensive tender process the contract for the job was awarded to Heavy Industry Solutions, which will introduce new technology with a new safe post design consisting of curved tubular posts and a new mounting system for improved safety. The old cable-driven lure system will be replaced by the latest Safechase remote lure system.
GRNSW is also working with the Shoalhaven Greyhound Racing Club on a range of other track and facility upgrades which can be completed in unison with this work.
The announcement of the Nowra track upgrade follows other safety initiatives which GRNSW have introduced in recent weeks.
From August 1 GRNSW began a trial period of the double-arm lure at Dapto and Ladbrokes Gardens and last Thursday night at Dapto two races were conducted as Preferred Box Draws (PBD) events. Those PBD events will continue at Dapto and midweek Wentworth Park events from next week.
In addition to this, GRNSW announced on Friday that from October 1, racing at the Richmond Straight track will be conducted behind a drag lure.
The decision was made after numerous trials with the drag lure were conducted at Richmond earlier this year, and following consultation with trainers and analysis of the video and data from those trials.
