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Wet weather forces feature race shifts

3 minute read

The Silver Eagle and Angst Stakes have been added to the Everest day program.

Marc Van Gestel.
Marc Van Gestel. Picture: Racing and Sports

Despite the best attempts of racing officials, the Randwick meeting has been called off after six races, forcing three of the features to be rescheduled. 

Stewards were left with little option but to abandon the running of the final four events when a combination of poor visibility and a rapidly deteriorating track made it unsafe for racing. 

The Australian Turf Club has rescheduled three of the races including the Gloaming Stakes (1800m), an important lead-up to the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) in two weeks, which will be added to the Warwick Farm program on Wednesday with a distance amendment to 1600m. 

The Silver Eagle (1300m) and Angst Stakes (1600m) have both been put back one week and will be part of next Saturday's Everest card at Randwick at the expense of two benchmark races. 

Saturday's meeting started out on a heavy 10 track but as rain increased throughout the day, the inside section began to chop up badly. 

Jockeys approached stewards about the issue prior to the sixth event, the Tapp-Craig (1400m) and it was agreed to proceed with the caveat that the riders try to steer wide of the rail, particularly in the middle stages. 

However, with several horses struggling to get a sure footing on the surface and ongoing rain making visibility an issue for jockeys, Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel had little option but to postpone the remaining races. 

"It's unfortunate," Van Gestel said. 

"We tried for this race (the Tapp-Craig) to have the riders positioned away from the rail to find some better footing, but even the riders that did end up being out three, four, five (horses) away from the rail expressed concerns, not only over visibility, but footing also," Van Gestel said. 

"When you've got the combination of those two, it's difficult to continue." 

The $500,000 Tapp-Craig was won by Opal Ridge, who drew the rails and was forced to race in the worst part of the going coming to the corner before jockeyTyler Schiller was able to get her away from the fence. 

Once he did, she handled the conditions best, but the writing was already on the wall. 

"In those circumstances, it's not so condusive to competitive racing, particularly when you've got horses losing footing and visibility issues," Van Gestel said. 

"The obvious decision is to postpone it and find a more suitable day." 

Van Gestel confirmed officials did consider starting the meeting early with the majority of the rain forecast to fall in the afternoon but other factors swayed them to stick to the original timetable. 

"We did have some discussions about whether we should come forward but there are obviously other considerations to look at when we make those decisions," he said. 


Racing and Sports

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