It’s hard to imagine a more committed volunteer track manager than Mick Zander at the Kangaroo Racing Club. Only two weeks after a hip replacement in November, he was back at the Kingscote Racecourse (albeit with a walking stick) making sure the surface was cherry ripe for the Carnival.
“I spent most of my time out here after the operation,” Zander said.
“I just had a couple of weeks off then came back to the track. I usually get divorced around September time, and then my wife takes me back around March after the races.”
When the pain from his hip became too much to bare, Zander ended up spending thousands of dollars out of his own pocket to ensure the operation didn’t clash with the races.
“I got offered three times but that was just before the races so I put it off, and I ended up paying for it myself. It was 16 grand well spent.
“The hip has got better over time. About a month after the operation I was still pretty sore. But I just did things different ways, and got machines going different ways, and now I’m back to full mobility.”
From around October each year Zander spends three to four hours a day at the racecourse tending to the surface. When there’s no wind he makes sure he’s up at 5:30am in the morning to get the sprinklers on.
If the feedback is anything to go by his hard work is paying off.
“Trainers just love coming here, and they just wish all the tracks they raced on were like this,” he said.
“It’s a big job but when you get feedback like that it’s worth it.
“I think sometimes curators now have got too many toys to play with. I think the only two toys you need are your eyes and your feet - just looking at how green it is and all that, and when you’ve got problems try and fix it up, and read up about it.
Following on from record nominations last year, there’s already 100 race horses booked on the Sealink ferry for next week.
The KI Carnival includes races on Thursday 17th, and Cup Day on Saturday the 19th of February.