STEVE SCOLLARD – THE MOST CHALLENGING YEAR OF HIS 27 AT GOSFORD

STEVE Scollard didn’t hesitate when the question was asked!

Understandably, Gosford’s highly regarded racecourse manager says the last 12 months has been the most challenging of his 27 years at The Entertainment Grounds.

The “challenge” began with his club losing their biggest race meeting of the season in May last year when rain forced the transfer of the 10-race The Coast metropolitan Saturday stand-alone meeting to Newcastle.

Whilst a race meeting was held the following Thursday along with two sets of subsequent barrier trials, work began at the end of that month on a major infrastructure project, which principally involved the home turn being re-cambered to a gradient of 6 per cent to maximise competitive racing, along with remediation of the reverse camber in the home straight and removal of track undulations.

After a nine months’ hiatus the first two meetings on February 22 and March 15 (which featured a Provincial-Midway Championships Qualifier) were run without incident – but not so the next two on March 27 and April 10 when a horse slipped at a different point on the track at each.

It was subsequently identified that a hard layer (crust) had formed at the top of the profile, restricting horses from breaking through the surface.

“The track was too firm, and I can’t thank Evergreen Turf enough for both their immediate response and getting what needed to be done quickly and without fuss,” Scollard said today.

“Graeme Colless and Bill Shuck from Evergeeen were here at 9 o’clock the next morning after the Thursday April 10 meeting was abandoned after only a couple of races were run, and identified the problem.

“We buy all our sand and soil from Elite Sand & Soil, and Jason Roberts ensured 160 tonnes of sand was delivered on the Monday morning.

“The job was finished by 2pm the next day, using an Agri-Vator (specifically designed to break up hard soil layers, decompress soil and aerate the profile).

“It was fantastic and we were able to get through our next meeting on Anzac Day without any further problems.

“Graeme and Bill have kept in constant contact, and we worked horses on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings this week on varying sections of the track before acceptances were taken at 9am yesterday.

“Every track rider gave the thumbs up, so we’re ready to go on Saturday.

“It’s been a very challenging time for sure from the time the process began last year, and when the track was dug up in the straight.

“There was water everywhere. May had been a particularly wet month.”

 Sydney-born Scollard joined Gosford Race Club in 1998 after applying for a job advertised as a foreman (basically second in charge to then racecourse manager Dale Jeffs).

He had held a number of jobs as a greenkeeper before leaving Sydney for the Central Coast, and also worked at golf clubs and prepared turf wickets at Newington College.

Scollard took on a landscaping role when he and his family first settled on the Coast until the Gosford Race Club advertisement caught his eye.

“It was great to get back into an area I knew well,” he said.

Scollard took over as racecourse manager in 2003, and also has another string to his bow – as the club’s starter.

There have been many memorable incidents starting races, not the least when the gates opened prematurely one day for an 1100m race.

“I wasn’t even on the stand when there was an electric malfunction,” he explained.

“All the horses except the one drawn on the outside got away on terms, so I thought I wouldn’t rush for the false start button and let the stewards make a call about the latter being declared a non-runner.

“As it turned out the horse who missed the start won the race, but the stewards nonetheless declared it a no-race.

“They deemed it wasn’t a fair start because I didn’t officially start the race.”

Scollard on Thursday morning posted a ‘Soft 7’ rating for Saturday’s card, but pointed out the new section is a ‘Soft 5’.

“The back straight from the 1000m to 650m is in the shade more so than the rest of the course, and you have to rate the track at its worst section,” he said.

“But I’m confident Saturday will be a great day for the club, especially being able to stage the meeting back at home.

“We haven’t always had the best of luck with our stand-alone meeting.

“The first in 2020 had to be transferred to Royal Randwick because of COVID-19 restrictions, and then last year went to Newcastle.

“Steve Railton (RacingNSW stewards’ chairman) and myself walked the track on the Thursday morning, and whilst it was okay to race then, the weather forecast wasn’t good at all and RacingNSW that afternoon decided to switch to Newcastle.

“Ironically, it was fine here on race morning, but we had 50mm of rain later and would never have finished the program even if we had started.”

Story John Curtis, May 8, 2025