VICTORIA Racing Club Chief Executive, Dale Monteith, today issued a statement reassuring trainers with stables at Flemington that their horses would be safe during the forthcoming music festivals to be held at the track.

“The Club is extremely concerned about what occurred on Tuesday and we understand that the owners of the horses involved and trainer Mark Kavanagh would have been devastated by the incident,” Mr Monteith said.

“The Club’s over-riding policy has been, and continues to be, that it would never undertake any venture at Flemington which risks the welfare of horses or people. “Over the past 10 years, Flemington Racecourse, which is on Crown land, hasbeen developed as a multi-use venue fully utilizing the substantial investment the Clubhas made in its facilities.

“Last year, 220 individual events and functions, including three music festivals, were held at the racecourse, in addition to the 22 scheduled race meetings. All of these events were conducted without any significant security breaches.

“This diversified program of non-race day activities has enabled the VRC to improve on-course facilities for race-goers and to offer world-competitive prizemoney.

“Security for Big Day Out this year mirrored that of the previous two years and was believed to be appropriate.

“As in previous years, all Flemington trainers were advised in advance of the event, in writing, and were provided with a contact number of one of our staff in the event that they had any queries or concerns on the day.

“Whilst we continue to work closely with Victoria Police in trying to identify the culprit(s) involved in Tuesday’s incident, we are also currently developing a strategy to improve what were already significant security arrangements.

“Following the events of last Tuesday, it is clear that more could to be done to guarantee that such events can be conducted at Flemington in future.

“The Club plans to meet with the Flemington trainers in the near future to detail proposed additional security arrangements and we will work with the trainers on the implementation of these arrangements, which we are confident will address their concerns.

“The Club is confident that horses stabled at Flemington will be safe during the upcoming Good Vibrations and Future Music Festival events.”

VRC MEDIA RELEASE

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