Update – Thursday 10 July
Belmont Park Track Update
Perth Racing, following consultation with Racing WA and the WA Jockeys Association, alongside continuing advice from agronomists, is now in a position to outline a proposed timeline for the return of racing at Belmont Park.
The transplanted section of track at Belmont Park has now had over two weeks to bed in, following completion of the groundworks on Tuesday 24 June. All transplanted turf is in good health, with the leaf growing and starting to stand up. The colour is slightly lighter than the rest of the track but is improving daily.
We are now preparing for the first practical testing of the remediation work.
The track has been inspected today by Racing WA stewards, and tomorrow will be assessed by representatives of the WA Jockeys Association. Pending their approval, the first horses and senior riders will undertake a practical test of the track on Tuesday 15 July.
If the jockeys are happy with the performance of the surface, further testing and constant monitoring of key data by agronomists and the track team at Perth Racing will take place that week, culminating in a set of test gallops on Saturday 19 July.
Once again, assuming all participants are satisfied with the performance of the track, we will then host two or three trials from those already scheduled for Monday 21 July at Belmont Park on the course proper.
If all practical testing is successful and the data collected by the agronomists is satisfactory, racing will return to Belmont Park on Saturday 26 July, with the meeting featuring the Belmont Classic transferring back from Bunbury Turf Club. It’s important to note that the final decision for that will not be made until jockeys, stewards, independent agronomists and Perth Racing staff confer after trials on Monday 21 July.
However, on the advice of the agronomists and other Australian track managers, we will limit the load in the initial weeks of returning to racing at Belmont Park and will therefore be staging Saturday meetings only until at least the 13 August 2025.
We appreciate this will cause some further disruption for everyone, but racing twice a week in winter on any track is a challenge and even more so on newly laid turf.
A revised WA thoroughbred fixture schedule for the end of July and early weeks of August will be released in due course.
We will continue to make decisions about returning to racing based on the best interests of horses and jockeys, and so there must still remain some degree of caution regarding the proposed timeline.
Once again, we would like to thank all participants, Members and patrons for their patience.
Update – Tuesday 24 June
Belmont Park Track Update
We are pleased to confirm that the remedial groundwork at Belmont Park has now been completed.
The work, undertaken by Evergreen Turf Group, involved removing a section of the track around the 150m mark, to a depth of approximately 700mm and a width of 7m.
The material removed has now been replaced with a section transplanted from the outside of the track at around the 1500m mark; matching the exact existing profile of the course either side of the area replaced.
In turn, the section of track removed at the 1500m mark will now be rebuilt and returfed using profile from the inner trials track at Belmont.
Although that concludes the necessary groundwork, the transplanted turf now requires time to re-establish roots and to bind to the existing turf either side. How long that takes will largely be dictated by the weather in the coming weeks, but we remain optimistic that we could return to racing by the end of July 2025.
Extensive testing of the track will be conducted to ensure that there are no discrepancies under scientific analysis. Once we are satisfied, then there will be multiple racecourse gallops to allow jockeys to assess the effectiveness of the remediation.
Only once we have unanimous agreement from the independent experts, jockeys, Racing WA Stewards and Perth Racing staff, will we return to racing at Belmont Park.
Update – Friday 13 June
Joint Statement from Perth Racing and Racing WA
Update: Track Remediation Underway at Belmont Park Racecourse
Perth Racing has elected to undertake a complete removal and replacement of the track near the 150m mark of the Belmont Park Racecourse straight to prioritise the ongoing safety of both jockeys and horses.
The work, set to be conducted by Evergreen Turf Group, will take four to five days. However, given the winter conditions, Belmont Park Racecourse will not host racing for at least four weeks post the turf replacement. This is to allow sufficient time for the turf to establish, with the earliest anticipated return to racing being late July.
It comes after the race meeting at Belmont Park Racecourse on 24 May 2025 was abandoned due to concerns over the safety of the specific part of the track near the 150m mark.
Racing WA supports Perth Racing’s decision, acknowledging the welfare of Jockeys and horses is paramount, and will confirm a revised schedule for the meetings originally programmed at Belmont Park early next week.
Findings guide Belmont Park Racecourse decision
Perth Racing engaged independent experts Ground Science (Environmental Consultant), Living Turf (Agronomists) and Evergreen Turf Group (Sports Turf experts) following the 24 May 2025 track incident at Belmont Park Racecourse.
Comprehensive testing of both the track surface and the underlying soil and sand layers was conducted. All testing is now complete, with the final report provided to Perth Racing and Racing WA.
The testing identified a localised issue with moisture imbalance in the sand layer beneath the turf at the 150m mark. This lower moisture content compromised the stability of the sand, increasing the likelihood of movement under the impact of a galloping horse’s hoof.
Informed by the findings – and following consultation with Ground Science, Racing WA Stewards, the WA Jockeys Association and the WA Racehorse Trainers Association – the decision to remove and replace the section at the 150m mark was made.
Thank you for your patience
Perth Racing and Racing WA extend thanks to all racing participants and racing followers for their patience and understanding.
The recent testing has directly informed the pathway forward, which aims to fully resolve the underlying issue and ensure a safe racing surface.
The action being taken is essential to ensure the long-term safety and integrity of the track for both horses and jockeys.
For any inquiries, please contact the media representatives listed below.
Perth Racing: Maggie Marshall – Public Relations Manager, T: 08 9277 0777, mmarshall@perthracing.com.au
Racing WA: Zach Relph – Head of Corporate Affairs, T: 08 9445 5333, zachery.relph@rwwa.com.au
Update – Monday 2 June
Following the announcement from Racing WA that the Belmont race meeting scheduled for Saturday 7 June has been transferred to Pinjarra, Perth Racing would like to provide a further update.
On Friday 30 May, nationally recognised geotechnical and environmental experts Ground Science completed testing of the Belmont track using a lightweight deflectometer machine, which is used to measure the stiffness and stability of the various layers below the turf.
Ground Science, in consultation with Living Turf, Evergreen, Liam O’Keeffe (Head of Racecourse, VRC) and Perth Racing’s team, believe that although the results from the lightweight deflectometer provided some valuable preliminary data, further lab-based testing is required to provide additional information.
The results from that additional testing are not expected to be available until late next week (5-6 June). Therefore, the meeting scheduled for Saturday 7 June has been transferred to Pinjarra.
Whilst we are cautiously optimistic about the return of racing to Belmont Park in the near future, we are unable to provide a definitive date at this stage, whilst we await the full results of the laboratory based testing, the final collective analysis and recommendations from the team of agronomists and geotechnical experts and, importantly, the subsequent practical feedback from senior riders after galloping on the surface on multiple days.
We are also mindful of the extreme weather forecast for Perth this week, which may have an impact on our ability to undertake any remedial work and practical testing as quickly as we would have liked.
We appreciate that everyone is keen to return to racing at Belmont Park, but the welfare of our jockeys and racehorses must come first at all times.
We will continue to keep you informed.
Update – Monday 26 May
Following the abandonment of racing at Belmont after the fifth race on Saturday, Perth Racing wanted to give an update.
As you may be aware, jockeys reported a number of incidents of horses stumbling or taking false strides at a section of the track around the 150m mark in the home straight. Following two separate inspections of the track by jockeys and officials, although there was no visible imperfection to the surface, given the video footage and the reports from jockeys the Stewards made the decision to call off the remainder of the meeting, which included the Group 3 Swan Draught-Belmont Sprint. Those races that were not completed, along with the meeting scheduled for Wednesday 28 May, will now be run at Pinjarra on Wednesday 28 May.
There have obviously been extensive further inspections of the track following Saturday’s meeting, but there is still no visible evidence of an obvious issue with the track, nor is any data from the Going Stick or moisture readings providing clear evidence that points towards the source of the problems that occurred on Saturday.
Therefore, extensive further testing has been commissioned, which will be undertaken by external consultants, Ground Science and Living Turf, on both the surface of the track and also the soil and sand profiles beneath the turf layer. This will involve analysis of cored samples and the deployment of a lightweight deflectometer machine to assess compaction.
Perth Racing is also liaising with other metropolitan track managers to seek their input and advice.
The result of this testing is unlikely to be available until after this weekend.
In consultation with the Racing WA Stewards, the decision has been taken that this Saturday’s meeting (31 May 2025) will be transferred to Pinjarra, to allow for completion of the testing and thorough analysis of the results. Dependent on those results, there may need to be remedial work carried out on the track – how extensive this may be, and how long it may take, will be determined by what is found during testing.
If it is deemed necessary to transfer future meetings at Belmont, this will be communicated as soon as possible.
The priority for everyone in WA thoroughbred racing is the safety of all participants – and therefore we will not return to racing at Belmont until such time as extensive testing is completed and the recommendations arising from that testing have been implemented.