South Australia’s peak racing body says a century-old country race day can be saved, if the club’s community-driven committee can keep its track up to standard.  

Key points:

  • Last year was set to be the last Mindarie-Halidon Cup race meeting held in Halidon
  • Racing SA decided to cease racing at Halidon due to a lack of volunteers to organise the event
  • The Mindarie-Halidon Racing Club has launched an online petition to keep the race in the Mallee in the future

The Halidon racecourse is 180 kilometres from Adelaide and is home to the Mallee’s only thoroughbred race day, the Mindarie-Halidon Cup races.  

The annual event attracts more than 1,000 racegoers to the town of only 19 residents and provides an economic boost to the surrounding towns in the Riverland and Mallee. 

Racing is set to cease, however, with the event run at Halidon in 2021 the last to be held in the Mallee after a lack of volunteers made it difficult to run. 

Chief executive Nick Redin said Racing SA and the Mindarie-Halidon Racing Club had an agreement that the 2021 event would be the last in the Mallee. 

The racetrack was deemed unsafe for racing in 2019 because of inconsistencies with grass coverage.(ABC Riverland: Laura Collins)

“You don’t take decisions not to program racing going forward lightly,” he said. “We’re very conscious that, before Mildura, it’s the last track in that region. 

“When you have a committee that comes to us and says ‘we’re struggling and we’re struggling to get volunteers’ then we say okay we’ll conduct one more meeting.”

Races ‘vital’ to community

Recent years have been a struggle for the club with the 2019 race cancelled due to the track being underprepared and the meet being postponed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mr Redin said Racing SA is waiting for more information from the club about a new executive committee of 10 people its formed. 

“Once we have been advised (of) that, there’s more than a dozen critical items that need to be rectified to make that (the track) safe for racing,” he said.

“We’re working with one other club, completely the opposite side of the state which is in a similar position.

The Mindarie Halidon races regularly draw more than 1,000 people to the small Mallee community of Halidon each year.(ABC Riverland)

The club has launched an online petition to save the race day, which currently has more than 1,000 signatures. 

The petition stated cancelling the event would go against Racing SA’s strategic plan, by making racing inaccessible for people in the Mallee.  

“The Mindarie-Halidon Races being run at Halidon is more than just a race meeting,” the petition read. 

“Racing SA do not understand the implications of ceasing races at Halidon and the effects it will have on the community, especially since it is still strongly supported by the locals, different groups of the racing industry and visitors alike.”