Yan’s on new turf at Morphettville
Morphettville’s new Turf Manager Kallina Yan has already started preparations for the 2026 Sportsbet Adelaide Cup.
Yan arrived at Morphettville after spending the past six years as Assistant Turf Manager at the Australian Turf Club, based at Canterbury.
“I got approached to see if I’d like to come down and have a look at the track and see if I’d be interested in taking the role as Turf Manager, and now here we are,” Yan said.
“I’ve shipped the family down to Adelaide and I’m now the Turf Manager here at Morphettville.”
With the countdown now well and truly on to Sportsbet Adelaide Cup Day on Monday, March 9, Yan has already got the calendar planned.
“We have already started to prepare for the Sportsbet Adelaide Cup. So, I have already started on the programs to get us ready for that one race day,” Yan said.
“It’s a huge day for everyone involved.”
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Yan has spent over two decades in the turf industry, starting as a greenkeeper at a local golf course.
“I started Greenkeeping close to 20 years ago out on a golf course and did my four-year apprenticeship there,” Yan said.
“That was at Bexley, a little public golf course south of Sydney and then I went to a private golf course.
“When I finished out my apprenticeship, I started working for a contracting company called Green Options.”
Green Options had the contract for the Sydney International Equestrian Centre, home of the Olympic Games event in 2000, and Yan’s career with horses began.
“I was there for a few years, and an old boss called up and said, ‘I’ve got a position available at Warwick Farm Racecourse,’ would you be interested? And I thought, ‘yeah, why not? let’s give horse racing a go.’
“Now, here we are, 10 years later, Turf Manager down in South Australia.”
Yan is looking forward to the challenge at Morphettville and looking to have an impact straight away.
“The day-to-day, looking after the track and the dams and lawns and gardens and things like that, I’ve pretty much been across for the past six years,” Yan said.
Yan said there is huge differences coming from a golf course to a racetrack.
“It is chalk and cheese. A racecourse is growing grass at anywhere from three and three-quarter inches to all the way up to six inches, where at a golf course you are talking two millimetres.
“The racetrack is the rough on the golf course.
“But we have also got up to 600-kilogram animals running on our grass. So, it is important that we have got that grass to a good standard and a healthy standard that these massive animals can run on week in, week out.”
Yan said she has inherited an amazing track in good condition at Morphettville.
“I can take my skills I learnt from the Australian Turf Club and improve on what already is a good surface,” Yan said.
“I have got a great group working with me and they all love working here, which goes a long way. I am a believer that you have got to love where you work to get the best out of yourself and your start.
“So, with the team that I’ve got, we can make strides to make this venue the best it can be.”
