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Noonan: The opportunity which Victorian racing must consider
Connor Scanlon • June 29th, 2026 11:35 am
Across the winter racing period, there has been plenty heavy tracks across Victoria, resulting in a larger than usual number of upsets taking place.
Speaking on RSN’s Correct Weight, expert form analyst Trav Noonan proposed the idea of running more higher-class races on the Pakenham Synthetic track to counteract the plethora of races being run on heavy tracks.
Currently, the Pakenham Synthetic track’s strongest race is usually a Benchmark 70, and Trav believes there is a huge opportunity here for Victorian racing.
“With all these wet tracks in Victoria of late, should we be running better class of races on the Pakenham synthetic?” Trav questioned.
“A horse like Gilded Water, he might have liked running on the Pakenham Synthetic (last Saturday), on a firmer surface (instead of the Caulfield track).
“Here's the case – at Kempton in the UK they run group races there. Also, at Lingfield and at a few other places they run high-class races.
“Dubai Honour’s won on the synthetic in the UK and Enable won on the synthetic before going on to win an Arc.
“So is there a spot for the Pakenham synthetic, which is clearly the superior synthetic surface in Victoria, to run better class of races?
“I would like to see at least some Saturday class standard races run on the synthetic.”
Trav’s brother, Nick, couldn’t agree with him on this though.
Nick Noonan was adamant that the current use of the Pakenham Synthetic track is perfect and doesn’t require any extra high-class racing.
“How have you come up with this? Honestly!” Nick exclaimed.
“No, I think it's doing its job. It's there for the week in, week out, those horses that want the synthetic ground at the lower level, and that's what it's for.”
Nick did explain though that Trav’s idea could potentially help the industry through gambling turnover, but that still may reduce the quality of other races.
“It could help turnover if there were some better class of horses running, but that might be taking away from certain other races and products,” Nick stated.
“I’m happy where it sits at the moment.”
