Sale Turf Club will host a special race day on Sunday, in collaboration with Country Racing Victoria, to thank those working in emergency services, education, and health for their herculean efforts in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events across the past two years.

Say Thanks race days will be held at every major regional racing club in Victoria, with Country Racing Victoria offering free entry to those who have supported local communities during difficult times.

Sale Turf Club chief executive Brad Evans said the purpose behind Say Thanks is to invite and extend free entry to those that have been helpful within the community during the pandemic, bushfires and floods.

“From our perspective, our meeting that has been nominated for that event to say thanks is Sunday the second of April,” Evans said.

“The list is endless of who you could thank, but the group’s Sale Turf Club are targeting are emergency services, police, ambulance and fire; we are also targeting those that have worked in the health services, particularly doctors, nurses, hospital staff, aged care workers who have cared for the sick, especially through COVID.

“Also, the Wellington Respiratory Clinic who have been the cornerstone of supporting the Wellington Shire around immunisations, testing and those sorts of things and one area that is close to my heart, being a former principal too, is teachers, after what teachers have gone through and are going through in education and the challenges that COVID has presented with remote learning.

“We are engaging with all of those agencies, all those groups, and providing them with free entry, but should there be more members of those groups than we have tickets, we’re more than happy for a teacher to show their registration card, a nurse to show their workplace ID at the gate and gain free entry.”

Sale Turf Club will host eight races across the event, beginning at 1pm, with children’s activities, live music and various hospitality options available for patrons.

“We will have lots of hospitality options; we will have activities for children and families, jumping castle, Easter egg hunt, lollies and giveaways,” Evans said.

“We will have some music and obviously some action on the track, which is all part of the deal as well.

“It is also the Maffra Cup Day which is a bit of a traditional race day here; well supported and sponsored with every race through the day.

Sale Turf Club’s chief executive is looking forward to engaging with local emergency services workers, health care professionals and teachers along with the entire Sale and surrounding community.

“We’re looking forward to not only engaging with those say thanks workers but just the community, coming out here and enjoying the day,” Evans said.

“They don’t have to be just here for the horses; there are other things they can do out here. We can have the paddock bar open, we’ve got the lawns available, there is everything on offer there for whatever you want to do.

“So hopefully the weather is kind, which is always a defining factor; if we get really good engagement, we might do something like Say Thanks dash for a fundraising cause, you know, we might have a representative, a teacher, a police officer, an ambulance officer, a firey, a healthcare worker, a doctor, a nurse, to have a dash down the straight and the winner gets a prize from the club and can nominate a charity to donate to, we can do all sorts of things like that.”

For information about the upcoming Say Thanks Race Day, head to Sale Turf Club’s Facebook page.