Weather Gods smile for Warrnambool May Races
Despite some heavy overnight rain and a few showers during the morning, the weather for the second day of the Warrnambool May Races has remained rain free for the afternoon, with even a few patches of sunshine throughout the day.
Attendances at this years meeting have been above average, thanks in part to the attendance of racing celebrity trainer Gai Waterhouse. Her visit has also attracted national press coverage, due to her recent controversial fall out with high-profile horse owner John Singleton.
Gai Waterhouse, was also the celebrity guest speaker at the Ladies day luncheon, and said she was very impressed with the racing and promised to return next year with a "few" horses.
This years event has also been free from protests regarding the banning of jumping races and although there is still ongoing actions by groups who wish to ban jumping races, this year has had very little adverse publicity
The May racing carnival injects millions of dollars into the local community with accommodation and hospitality being the main recipients, and the added benifit to the local ecomomy is that a vast proportion of this money stays in the local community and to the credit of the Warrnambool Racing Club, they have invested their share back into improving the facilities, which has been a factor in making this event as popular as it is.
(above - some of the crowd in the public and members grandstands) |
