Kilmore Racing Club has begun work on its new barn, set to revitalise race meetings and generally improve the quality of the club’s facilities and services.
Supported by the State Government’s Victorian Racing Infrastructure Fund, Kilmore Racing Club has been working closely with Harness Racing Victoria, Racing Victoria and Country Racing Victoria to get the project off the ground.
Works began last week with the demolition of the club’s current tie-up stalls, after years of advocacy and planning for the new project.
Kilmore Racing Club chief executive Ben Murphy said the barn would support a growing racing community in the town.
“It’s just an enhanced product. It’d be the newest one built in Victoria and we’re really excited to be able to bring it to Kilmore,” he said.
“We think it really helps our club and it helps the industry and helps the participants, so it ticked all the boxes for us.”
The new barn will feature a trainer’s room, an indoor parade ring for the Kilmore Pony Club, and modernised tie-up stalls, all while using foundations that will be left behind after current demolition works are complete.
Mr Murphy said once complete, the project would improve the racing experience for participants in the winter months.
“Probably 60 per cent of our races occur between April and September and that’s harness racing predominantly. Obviously Kilmore weather can be quite inclement and we have a lot of night racing, so it was a pretty poor experience,” he said.
“It’s a project that’s about enhancing the participant experience and bringing the horses and participants inside a barn during those winter months.
“Credit to the board for having the vision to want to achieve this project because it means that supports what we want to do as a club, and that is to improve horse facilities and horse infrastructure.”
Mr Murphy said the upgrade was an ‘important piece of horse infrastructure’ that allowed the club to grow.
“It allows us to showcase ourselves, the harness racing and thoroughbred racing more often,” he said.
“It’s a really important piece of infrastructure that the club needs to build to allow us to keep growing.
“We need to have a really vibrant racing club with modern facilities to be able to showcase that product to our growing community.”
The barn is expected to be completed by June 2024.
Races will be halted at Kilmore until the new barn is completed.
