Forecast rain to again test Caulfield track conditions for PB Lawrence meeting

Untimely wet weather could impact another Caulfield meeting just as the “battered” track was showing signs of improvement.

A break in the Melbourne winter warm spell could arrive at a most inopportune time for Caulfield.

The spring tease the past 10 days has helped a “battered” Caulfield turf recover from its winter workload but rain on Friday and Saturday could undo the improvement.

Caulfield has attracted the ire of trainers and punters in recent weeks for inconsistent race patterns.

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Melbourne Racing Club executive Jake Norton attributed the issue to untimely inclement weather.

“That’s certainly impacted the way the pattern has emerged throughout the day and in saying that there were exceptions (races) in those meetings that debunked the categorical bias,” Norton said.

“There is a little bit of wear still on the inside section and if it is rain-affected you’d probably think they get off the fence at some point (Saturday).

“All that remains to be seen depending on what happens with the weather.”

The track has deteriorated from good to soft and heavy ratings in two of the past three meetings, which coincided with rain either before or during race days.

History could repeat, with Caulfield forecast to get between two to 15mm rain on Friday and up to four on Saturday.

Recommendation (right) winning the Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield on a track which has been impacted by wet weather. Picture: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

“We’ve caught really bad luck on race day, which is a racecourse manager’s nightmare, that’s when the real deterioration occurs and it just takes a little bit longer to bounce back,” Norton said.

“Hopefully the weather gods smile on us for the rest of this week and we can get away with racing on not too a heavier surface Saturday.

“Regardless, we’re well positioned with the rail going back to the true for Memsie and beyond.”

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The rail is out 9m, a traditional placement for PB Lawrence Stakes day, to preserve the inside true section of the track for the Group 1 Memsie Stakes card on August 31.

“It’s pleasing the planned rail movements conspired to the rail being out for this meeting, it’s going to allow the inside half of the track, battered over the winter, to get somewhere closer to top condition for the spring,” Norton said.

Caulfield last raced in the true position on July 13 and four metres out the entire circuit on July 27.

Meanwhile, remediation works on the new male jockeys’ room at Caulfield began this week.

“There will be some changes in play for Saturday, thankfully we’ve been able to phase the works in between meetings so there’ll be incremental changes ahead of this Saturday,” Norton said.

“Some more ahead of Memsie Stakes and then looking ahead towards Underwood and beyond … the jockeys will see considerable change already with more to follow.”

Originally published as Forecast rain to again test Caulfield track conditions for PB Lawrence meeting