WARRNAMBOOL'S race meeting set down for Thursday, February 29, will be transferred to another course after complications arose building a new $500,000 pre-fabricated judges' tower off-site in Ballarat.
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Warrnambool Racing Club chief executive officer Luke Cann confirmed to The Standard on Friday, February 16 the new tower was about a fortnight away from being delivered and hence the meeting would be transferred.
"It's out of our control about what's happened," he said.
"We have all the remedial work finished at our end including new wiring, platform, roof and steel structures but there are a couple of issues with the build of the new tower in Ballarat.
"We don't want to take any risks as we always knew it would be a tight deadline to be ready for our February 29 meeting.
"We just wanted to get on the front foot to let our members, trainers and the public know we will not be racing on that date.
"Racing Victoria will announce a new venue for the meeting next week."
The Standard first reported issues with the old tower in May 2022.
It was home of the judge, course broadcaster, photo camera and was erected more than 40 years ago and was deemed a safety hazard because little maintenance had been carried out since it was first installed.
An engineers' report last year found occupational health and safety issues with the old tower.
Former broadcaster Bryan Martin, who called at 35 Warrnambool May Racing Carnivals, described the facility as a "health hazard', when questioned by The Standard in May 2022.
Warrnambool's next race meeting will be on Tuesday, March 12.
