News 
 Local News 
 News 
 General 
 Good vibrations 

Good vibrations

09 Feb, 2010 08:31 AM
LEADING racehorse trainers have backed the continuation of music concerts at the Flemington racecourse despite the Big Day Out fiasco that threatened the lives of two top gallopers after gatecrashers broke into stables and let horses loose.

Trainers will meet the Victoria Racing Club today for a scheduled meeting where the issue is expected to be high on the agenda.

Several leading trainers have given their approval for the concerts to go ahead as long as security is beefed up.

About 25 fillies from the stable of Melbourne Cup winning trainer Mark Kavanagh were let loose by louts who broke in and chased them around the complex during the Big Day Out.

Two of the fillies suffered suspected broken pelvis' and life-threatening injuries.

Flemington trainer Steve Richards said he checked on his horses during the concert and they were as "good as gold".

He said it was great to see festival-goers wearing green and gold and draped in the Australian flag, adding the majority of people were well behaved.

"At the end of the day there was 50,000 people and 49,990-odd were good and a few rabbits got through and were stupid.

"We've never had a problem with it before. It's just a couple of bad eggs."

Leading trainer Danny O'Brien said people unsuccessfully tried to break into his stable and that he was "fortunate".

He said security improvements needed to be made but he was not opposed to the concerts continuing.

"Unfortunately there's people out there in the community that don't seem to have any respect for other people or property. It's an issue for the community at large."

Trainer Nigel Blackiston said it was an isolated incident and there was no issue as long as security was addressed.

"We've had concerts here on many occasions previously and we've never had any trouble.

"If they [the VRC] can address the security, I don't see any problems."

Australian Trainers Association chief executive John Alducci said he believed security issues could be ironed out.

"We'd be very confident that they're going to ramp up the security from here on in. It was very serious what happened. Security needs to be a number one priority."

In the aftermath of the incident, the VRC conceded that security needed improving but plans for future concerts would go ahead. "It is clear that more could be done to guarantee that such events can be conducted at Flemington in the future," VRC chief executive Dale Monteith said.

The Good Vibrations Festival will be held at Flemington on February 21 and the Future Music Festival is scheduled for March 13.

Print
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size

comments


No comments yet. Be the first to comment below.

post a comment


Screen name  *
Email address  *
Remember me?
Comment  *
 
We invite and encourage our readers to post comments. Comments are moderated and will appear as soon as our editor has approved them. When posting comments you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions.

Most popular articles

1) Apple iPhone 4 32GB43 plans 1%
2) Apple iPhone 4 16GB44 plans 5%
3) HTC Desire4 plans 3%
4) Apple iPhone 3GS 8GB33 plans 2%
5) Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro37 plans 1%

Mobile Phones | Broadband Plans

Get the best deal at Fairfax Digital - Rural Press



Moonee Valley Weekly







Weather brought to you by:

Weatherzone

Navigate

Classifieds

More Ways to Read

Front Page

Current Issue
Privacy Policy | Conditions of Use | Advertising Terms | Copyright © 2010. Fairfax Media.
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...