One of the world’s richest horse race meetings — the final day of the Gold Coast Magic Millions — is scheduled to run in six days but the venue is still up in the air.

Police said investigations continued into damage to the Gold Coast racetrack at Bundall, which forced day one of the broader Magic Millions carnival to be relocated yesterday.

It follows “discolouration” on the track discovered by officials.

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Leading horse rights activist Elio Celotto said there was “no way” any activist was responsible for damage to the track.

Mr Celotto said race organisers needed to “take responsibility for what happened” themselves.

Due to safety concerns, the twilight race meeting yesterday was moved to the Sunshine Coast.

Sunshine Coast Turf Club chief executive John Miller said there were “above-average” crowds for the main race — the $3 million Sunlight Plate — with up to 1,400 racegoers in attendance.

“A lot of people that were obviously down on the Gold Coast and travelled up to see their horses run … had never been to the Sunny Coast before, and that was a great experience as well.”

He said it was amazing to pull off the last-minute move and there was a lot of excitement on the track.

“It was a really good crowd, quite unbelievable actually when you consider the short notice,” he said.

Mr Miller said it was a big effort to transport all the horses to the Sunshine Coast.

“Fortunately, there was no delays to races or anything because of horses not arriving on course … and everything ran really smoothly,” he said.

The race meeting’s social functions, with performances by Daryl Braithwaite and Amy Shark, still went ahead at Bundall last night.

The carnival’s main race day, worth $14.5 million in prize money across 11 races, is scheduled for January 11.

But it is still unclear if the Gold Coast track will be ready, with course officials in a race against time.

Potential buyer Rikki McDonald from Melbourne said she was confident the race would go ahead but was frustrated by the potential vandalism.

“I think [those responsible] should remember they can do the horses a great deal of harm,” she said.

‘Crazy 24 hours’

Rockhampton horse trainer Clinton Taylor travelled 600 kilometres south to race his two-year-old filly Don’tdoubtthelady at the highly anticipated carnival.

Mr Taylor said it had been a “crazy 24 hours” and paid credit to racing authorities.

“I was lucky enough the horse was in Brisbane, which is where she stays,” he said.

“It was a credit to Racing Queensland to be able to move things very quickly.

“We didn’t know where we were going but they got the meeting underway and it was very successful.”

Mr Taylor’s horse placed third in the 2YO Fillies (1,100 metres) race on Saturday and is now on the cusp on gaining a start in the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic next weekend.

“I’ve heard the Gold Coast Turf Club is doing everything in its power to get the track right, so we’ll just leave that to the professionals and see how we go,” he said.