EXTENSIVE flood damage at Kennerson Park will force Bathurst trainers to travel for race opportunities for an indefinite period of time, as the club fully assesses how long it will take for racing to get back underway.
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All remaining Bathurst meetings for 2022 have been transferred to either Dubbo or Gunnedah - tracks which are two and a half hours and four hours away, respectively.
Lithgow is an open for some trainers but any higher-graded dogs won't be finding any suitable fields at its non-TAB meetings.
It means that more trips east of the Blue Mountains are likely to be on the cards for trainers from the region.
Bathurst trainers, such as Nathan Griffiths, have been forced to alter their plans.
"At this stage we're a bit lost and just trying to come up with a different plan," he said.
"Travelling is going to be a lot more on the cards now that there's not much happening there.
"I was hoping to have a full race every week up until Christmas here but I guess that's not going to be happening now."
Griffiths said a little more planning is now required than normal.
"We weren't looking too far ahead. We were working mostly off the condition of the dog and if they were 100 per cent then we'd nominate for a race," he said.
"Now we do have to look a little bit ahead, just to try and get into a race. That'd probably be at Richmond and surrounds.
"Dubbo, at two and a half hours, is a bit of a trek. Lithgow's the closest track to us, but it's only a country track and they don't run all that often.
Dubbo's regularly scheduled Saturday meeting is going ahead week and on Monday they will have their first meeting to replace Bathurst's.
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