CRANBOURNE Turf Club chief executive Neil Bainbridge is tipping Tricodes Day to grow further in the coming years after a four-year high attendance on Sunday.
The record crowd of around 5500 from the annual meeting’s first year remains, but an impressive 3709 fans still flocked to Cranbourne Racecourse on the weekend.
And Bainbridge believes the record could be smashed over the next few years.
“I suppose there was a little element of the novelty factor in year one and two, but a lot of people we spoke to in the crowd were annual Tricodes people,” he said.
“They love it. There’s racing every 15 minutes, it is exciting and there was an enormous amount of kids’ activities.
“Tricodes is a great event and is heading in the right direction and hopefully we can build past the 5000 or 5,500 mark it had going back to its inception.
“We think somewhere between 6000 and 8000 for such a unique and quality event is very attainable in the future.”
Bainbridge even poked a bit of fun at the local trainers’ struggles on Sunday.
“The away team won (this time) and the home team will have to lift for next year,” he joked.
“We nearly need some sort of a bonus – maybe if locally trained horses and dogs can win all 23 races we might refund everyone’s admission price next year.
“That’ll put the acid back on the local participants to stick up for the great Cranbourne brand.”
– Marc McGowan
