Mildura Harness Racing Club hosted 12 students from Ranfurly Primary School last Friday as part of its eight-week Hot to Trot schools program.
The students are in week five of their eight-week program learning about the industry and, in particular, what roles participants play within that industry.
They were split into smaller groups and given unprecedented access to all areas of the track and learnt about many aspects of trotting that they were unaware of.
Firstly they were taken to the judges’ tower and taught how the photo finish and judges operate during a race and what technology is used to determine the placings.
They watched on as race caller Craig Rail showed them the tools he used in calling a race and how he prepared before each call.
They also were given access to audio specialist Des Tobin and his role as well as the cameraman shooting the race for Sky Channel.
Next it was a stint in the stewards’ room to experience how they control a race and what they are looking for when they view replays. Harness Racing Victoria steward Shane Larkins welcomed the students into his domain and gave them a full understanding of the role the stewards played on race day.
The students were allowed to radio the starter and advise him to begin the race and then post-race radioed the starter to seek drivers to be queried on their driving tactics and their horse’s performance. They were also present during an inquiry into a horse’s performance and found the process the stewards go through to be very interesting.
The next role to find out about was to speak to the starter and the mobile driver and also find out about the swab steward’s role. The students then sat in the starter’s mobile car seat to experience what the view was like from the back of the mobile vehicle while it was stationery.
After interviewing drivers and trainers post-race on the course microphone, the students got very excited when they found out this broadcast was going live to thetrots.com.au’s Trots Vision, Sky Racing and RSN. Wayne Hill gave a very good account of his driving tactics and Boris Devcic entertained the students by answering well thoughout questions from the interviewers
The students also had access to the Mediatec van during a race, which provided all the vision and sound for Sky Racing throughout the world and they saw how the races were recorded and replayed for trots followers.
They met with volunteers and staff from the club and gained a great understanding of what roles people undertook on race day. The students interviewed these people and will put together presentations at the end of the program.
They also met with Mildura vet Megan Ginifer and understood how her role looks after the horse’s health as well as needing to take urine samples from certain horses as directed by stewards to check for illegal substances.
The students were accompanied by their teacher Mrs Chelsea Spratt, who is running the program at Ranfurly and was assisted by Mary and Ian Campbell and Julie Smith in what was a very educational day for those involved.
The program finishes in three weeks.
