Saturday’s Gold Coast meeting to launch the Magic Millions Carnival has been moved to the Sunshine Coast after a part of the Gold Coast track was poisoned
Saturday’s The Wave-Sunlight meeting to launch the Magic Millions Carnival has been moved to the Sunshine Coast after a segment of the Gold Coast track was poisoned.
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The start of the Magic Millions carnival has been turned on its head, with Saturday’s Gold Coast meeting sensationally moved to the Sunshine Coast after their new track was poisoned.
In unprecedented scenes, Queensland racing officials have been forced to move the rich twilight meeting, which includes the $3m Sunlight slot race and $500,000 The Wave after jockeys raised concerns about the state of the track at the 500m point.
Officials were left stunned on Friday afternoon when they discovered part of the new track had suffered significant chemical damage.
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Two senior jockeys galloped on the Gold Coast course proper on Friday afternoon, with the Queensland Jockeys Association saying they “weren’t 100 percent happy” with the damaged section.
The affected area is about 25m x 10m in size and on the point of the home turn.
It’s understood representatives from a leading turf farm in New South Wales have been engaged to oversee urgent works next week to ensure next Saturday’s bumper Magic Millions meeting can proceed as planned.
“The advice from turf experts was that next Saturday’s Magic Millions meeting will be fine to proceed,” Racing Queensland chief executive Jason Scott said.
“They believe the track will be able to be fixed up.”
It was determined it was vital to run the meeting on Saturday sticking to the planned twilight schedule, with the card having significant Magic Millions ramifications, through a pair of two-year-old races that shape as last chance saloon opportunities to get into the Magic Millions 2YO Classic next week.
It means participants and horses will need to make the two-hour trip from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast to race on Saturday.
Betting on the meeting was left in limbo, with different bookmakers having different rules regarding bets already placed.
It also throws Channel 7’s coverage of the much spruiked twilight meeting into disarray, with the network going to great lengths to broadcast it on free to air TV.
It’s understood the Brisbane Racing Club offered their services to host the meeting on Saturday at Eagle Farm, however the decision was ultimately made to move it to the Sunshine Coast instead, with the club already hosting a meeting on Sunday.
It is the latest drama for the track, which was put out of action after a diabolical meeting in March saw it sidelined until late last year.
In 2023, the Magic Millions was washed out after just 14mm of rainfall on race morning, when a rogue sprinkler was to blame for a wet patch on the track.
Originally published as Saturday’s Gold Coast meeting to launch the Magic Millions Carnival has been moved to the Sunshine Coast after a part of the Gold Coast track was poisoned
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