A year ago, Racecourse Manager James Dalton told us he expected the Trimax Pegasus SR to save Geelong Racing Club around $10,000 a year, and more than $100,000 over the life of the machine. He had done the sums before buying, and he was confident they would hold up. Twelve months and around 80 track cuts later, we went back to Geelong to find out. The verdict is simple.
$10,000 saving, confirmed
Before committing to the Pegasus SR, James built a detailed cost comparison covering labour, servicing and machinery costs. It pointed to a saving of around $10,000 a year. Twelve months in, that figure has proven accurate. “The cost comparison that I did before we purchased the mower, we were looking around $10,000 per year in savings,” James says. “That stood up really well. So, at this current time, a year on, there’s been a $10,000 saving.” For James, the result confirms the thinking behind the purchase. “It was an educated decision to use this mower, and it’s lived up to the expectations we thought it would.”
Flexibility to plan the day around the track
Last year’s story focused on the headline time-saving: a full track cut reduced from around eight hours to two. A year on, James says the bigger benefit is what that speed does for the rest of the team’s day. “Our previous mowing regime would take all day, and since we got the Pegasus on board, we can be quite flexible in the jobs that we’re doing for the day,” he explains. “We might not have to decide to cut the track until 1:00 in the afternoon, and we can still get over the track in a couple of hours and get the job done, which is a huge benefit.”
Mowing is no longer the job the whole day is built around. The team can respond to weather, track conditions and other priorities, and still have the track cut by the end of the day.
80 cuts without missing a beat
James estimates the Pegasus SR has cut the Geelong track around 80 times in its first year. The workload has been handled without issue. “The Pegasus SR has been very reliable,” he says. “The main thing that we’ve really done to it in the 12 months is change the blades. Apart from greasing the jockey wheels, the bearings, and all these sorts of things, it hasn’t missed a beat.”
That matches the low servicing costs James predicted last year, when he expected upkeep to come down to little more than grease and blades. “The mower would’ve cut probably 80 times, I reckon, over the 12 months we’ve had it. And look, it’s handled it fine. Not an issue at all,” he says. “I think the Pegasus proves its value nearly every time we use it.”
Quality of cut still comes first
Savings and speed matter, but for a racecourse manager the surface is what counts. “Number one, and the most important factor, is the quality of cut,” James says. “It’s lived up to what I thought it would do.”
The Pegasus SR’s high clip rate continues to deliver the clean, even finish that impressed the team a year ago. “The high clip rate of the mower just leaves a really nice clean cut and minimal wheel marking,” he says. “We seem to have a blank canvas of turf to look at.”
Returning clippings to the track has also remained part of the club’s approach to turf health. “The grass health, as I said, returning clippings is important to us,” James says.
The same decision, again
A year ago, James recommended the Pegasus SR to other race clubs, particularly those managing large areas of turf with a small team. Twelve months of results have only strengthened that view. “If I was looking for a mower again, I’d certainly make the same decision in buying the Pegasus SR,” he says.
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