Caulfield Racetrack Drainage

Caulfield has five different surfaces for horses to work on including turf, synthetic and sand tracks, a safe swimming pool and two tracks for trot and canter work. Woolacotts was engaged by Racing Victoria.

These include Australia’s first polytrack surface after a $2.8 million investment by the Melbourne Racing Club. The polytrack is a synthetic surface containing particles, each molecularly bonded within a wax coating. The track affords trainers at Caulfield the ability to work horses on a climate-tolerant surface that mimics turf, courtesy of its unique root structure and vertical drainage system.

In 2012 Woolacotts Consulting Engineers undertook survey and design of upgrade works at Caulfield Racecourse, to improve drainage of the training track, and hence the condition of the track surface. Tasks undertaken as part of the design included:

• Survey of the existing synthetic track, including adjacent drainage structures and surrounding plinth
• Site visit to understand the site, collect data and obtain additional information on drainage structures around the track, including depths and the direction of flow
• Design of a new sub-surface drainage system, including connection to the existing system
• Design of finished ground levels, to facilitate drainage of track, while meeting requirements for training
• Documentation of works, including long-sections and cross-sections through the track and along the sub-surface drains