Great Western race meeting abandoned after grass fire claims several vehicles

The Great Western race meeting has been called off following a grass fire in a nearby car park which claimed vehicles and forced patrons to evacuate.

The annual meeting south of Stawell was called off shortly after Race 1, as smoke blanketed the air around the racecourse.

The fire also spread from its initial location in the car park to the centre of the Great Western racecourse, burning 0.5 hectares of grass.

Country Fire Authority Victoria (CFA) were called to the blaze at about 1:30pm on Sunday and were able to contain the fire by 2:30pm with waterbombing aircraft in support.

No injuries have been reported.

Many years ago the same thing happened at the Met,my mate who won a packet on the earlier races went and put his satchel(cash) in the boot of his car,you can guess what happened next,car burnt out and it was a company car that he used "unauthorized " from Knysna for the trip to Cape Town.:ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

The year Badger's Coast won the Met !!