BOXING Day races are back on the Border racing calendar in a potential financial bonanza for Albury Racing Club which is still reeling from the cancellation of this year's Gold Cup.
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Racing NSW recently released its track report into the abandonment of Albury's premier meeting in March.
It has recommended the track undertake rectification to improve drainage.
The drainage work will commence on October 28 and the track is expected to be out of action to trainers and racing for six weeks.
As a result, the club will be unable to hold its traditional Melbourne Cup and Oaks day meetings this year.
Instead, Racing NSW has scheduled a replacement meeting on Boxing Day.
The second replacement meeting date is yet to be determined.
Club chief, Steve Hetherton, said the Boxing Day meeting presented a golden opportunity to attract a bumper crowd of festive revellers.
"It's an exciting opportunity for the club and the best case scenario considering the circumstances," Hetherton said.
"It has got huge potential crowd-wise to be one of our biggest meetings of the year outside the cup carnival.
"Wodonga always attracted a big crowd when it raced on Boxing Day and we are confident of attracting a similar sized crowd.
"Nothing can replace losing our cup meeting but hopefully Boxing Day can prove to be a silver lining."
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Hetherton said the club would work closely with Albury trainers to find alternative training solutions while the grass track was out of action.
The start date for the rectification work has been delayed until late October to give the track the best opportunity to recover quickly.
Last year was the first time there was was no Boxing Day racing action on the Border after Wodonga and District Turf Club decided to scrap its long-running tradition.
Albury has never previously raced on Boxing Day.
The meeting will be non-TAB.
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