THE embattled Marthaguy Picnic Race Club have taken another hit, with their 2023 meeting cancelled, despite what committee members say was their best track preparation in years.

After their 2020 meeting was withdrawn due to COVID they re-gathered for a successful day in 2021, before being washed out in 2022.

Three days prior to the races on Wednesday 3 May a stipendiary steward from Racing NSW had visited the race track to conduct a pre-race inspection and determined the track unsafe to race on due to cracking in the ground.

On the previous Saturday (29 April), Quambone had received 20millimetres of rain forcing all track work to stop until that Wednesday.

"That washed out the dirt from the cracks that the stipend had discovered," said Life Member Marg Garnsey.

"The thing is, those cracks were there three weeks earlier when he gave us the thumbs up to race, and they were easy enough to fix."

"We could've fixed it in time."

Marthaguy Race Club Vice-president, Simon Turnbull was concerned that the decision to cancel was based on a lack of familiarity with local soils.

"I went and got a local very experienced farmer, Glen Jones, and he said to bar it, and that would have seen the soft fill go into the cracks, but the stipend did not have the confidence that this would achieve the desired effect," said Mr Turnbull.

"At the end of the day, all we wanted was two hours to prove the remedial works would be successful. 

"They wanted the track up to scratch by acceptances on Thursday morning."

"If given the chance, we would have worked through the night to have the track ready for an inspection."

Brian Charman, head of Racing NSW Country says that the decision to declare the track unsuitable was supported by the Chairman of Stewards, Racing NSW and Racing NSW Country.

"It was a terrible situation," he said. "The Quambone club are very hardworking and we are well aware of what these race meetings mean to these clubs and their communities.

"There are twenty eight meetings a year within the Picnic Racing section and we make sure every effort is made to allow them to race.

"In our opinion the track was not presented as suitable for racing and was not in a condition to be brought up to standard in time to race on the Saturday.

"It comes down to the fact that the rain developed some large cracks and holes in the ground that we weren't prepared to risk the safety of horses and riders," he said.

President Doug Andrews firmly believed that the race day could have and should have gone ahead if the club had been given the opportunity to undertake remedial work.

"Clubs really need support to race and not be given reasons not to race," said Mr Andrews.

"We could definitely have raced, and the track would've been in good condition."

Mr Charman says that Racing NSW Country are looking to run a replacement race meeting in the region to ensure prizemoney is distributed to participants.

In the meantime, the members of Marthaguy Picnic Race Club held an alternate event and have advised they’ll now be working towards an event in 2024.