ELMORE harness trainer Keith Cotchin says he's confident the community will throw its support behind this year's Elmore Pacing Cup meeting at Bendigo, especially if spectators are able to attend.
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An inability to secure much sought-after Sky Channel coverage for the meeting, traditionally held on Boxing Day, and the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 have forced the Elmore Harness Racing Club into finding a new date and venue for this year's meeting.
The popular cup meeting will now be run at Lord's Raceway on Tuesday, November 16.
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Cotchin, a Group 1-winning trainer and also a member of the club's committee, said he would have loved nothing more than for the meeting to go ahead at Elmore, particularly after last year's meeting had to be cancelled.
But due to circumstances beyond its control, the club had little option but to seek a change in venue and date.
"At the end of the day, with the COVID situation, it's just been impossible to plan," he said.
"The day on which it falls (a Sunday) there's just too many races, so we can't get Sky Channel coverage.
"But obviously one of the main reasons it won't be at Elmore is the COVID situation.
"We weren't left with many options - if we wanted to run a meeting we had to run it before the end of the year, so we've found a date at Bendigo, which I'm sure will be good.
"(The committee) all agreed we are better off to have a meeting than not, we didn't want to miss out again after last year.
"We were lucky Bendigo was happy to have us come on board."
Cotchin, who gave locals plenty to celebrate by landing a winner at the last cup meeting held in 2019 with Juniper, said it was a day locals had always looked forward to.
"It was a real tradition to get along to the Elmore races on Boxing Day," he said.
"What the future holds we can only wait and see, but there'll be no races at Elmore this year.
"But if the COVID regulations lift, we might get a few people at Bendigo because people haven't had the chance to get to the races for a while, or do much else really.
"The weather will be getting better at that time of the year and the set-up at Bendigo will be good for sponsors.
"I'm sure people will be looking to get out somewhere. They (the government) want to be opening things up by Melbourne Cup day (November 2), so we fall into the right time frame."
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