Queensland’s racing industry thrown into chaos with meetings cancelled or postponed ahead of imminent arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Racing Queensland has cancelled or postponed several meetings in South East Queensland, including the $2m Jewel Day on the Gold Coast, as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches.

All three codes of racing have been suspended in South East Queensland until Monday

Queensland’s racing industry has been thrown into chaos with a host of meetings cancelled or postponed, including the $2m Jewel Day on the Gold Coast, due to the imminent arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

And the Gold Coast Turf Club has taken the bold initiative of booking a helicopter to ferry jockeys from Brisbane to the Glitter Strip as two metro meetings will be held in South East Queensland on the same day on Saturday week.

Cyclone Alfred is expected to hit the South East Queensland coast on Thursday night or Friday morning, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting up to 300mm of rain and gale-force winds exceeding 130km/h to hit the region on Thursday and Friday.

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Damaging wind gusts and heavy rain are expected to cause widespread carnage, with racing officials this week scrambling to devise contingency plans for a host of meetings.

The QTIS Jewel Day is one of the premier events for Queensland-bred horses, featuring $500,000 races for two-year-olds and three-year-olds.

It was due to be run this Saturday at the redeveloped Bundall track but will now be contested as a twilight meeting on the following Saturday (March 15), in conjunction with a reduced eight-race card at Eagle Farm.

“It’s not the greatest thing,” Racing Queensland acting chief executive Lachlan Murray told Racenet on Wednesday.

“We would’ve liked to have Jewel day as a stand-alone meeting but we thought it was important to give the Gold Coast that Saturday after the Magic Millions went to the Friday.

“We also wanted to have as little overlap as possible from Eagle Farm to the Gold Coast.”

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The Magic Millions carnival was rescheduled to a Friday night in January after a track issue and then rain caused major disruptions.

“It could be historic, running two metro race meetings in one day,” Gold Coast Turf Club boss Steve Lines said of the changes on Wednesday.

“It’s pretty good for owners and trainers. Some people are saying ‘why don’t you go Friday night?’ but wagering turnover is not as good and that affects prizemoney.”

Jockeys who want to ride in two metro meetings on Saturday week will have the option of being transported from Eagle Farm to the Gold Coast via helicopter.

“I think it’s a great initiative for any of those jockeys who want to dodge the M1 traffic,” Murray said.

“I reckon he (Steve Lines) will be like Father Christmas if he can pull that off.”

The major changes announced by Racing Queensland include:

• Friday: Doomben meeting being transferred to Eagle Farm on Tuesday.

• Saturday: Ipswich transferred to Thursday, March 13, replacing Beaudesert meeting, Esk (cancelled), Toowoomba to run as scheduled; and

• Sunday: Sunshine Coast (cancelled)

A view of current status of Tropical Cyclone Alfred and impacts for NSW at the SES HQ in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

All greyhound races at Albion Park, Capalaba and Ipswich between Wednesday and Monday have been abandoned while the same applies to harness racing at Redcliffe and Albion Park in that period.

The round one heats for harness racing’s Jim McNeil Trotting Championship, programmed for Friday at Albion Park, will now be contested on Friday week.

This year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, has been shifted to March 24-25.

It comes after Wednesday’s Sunshine Coast meeting was abandoned, despite rumblings from some trainers in the area who woke to blue skies and light winds.

“I’ve got no idea why it was called off,” one trainer said.

“I can’t see the idea of people playing God. I just don’t understand it.”

But Murray said the safety of horses, who would have been returning home to Brisbane late in the day, was paramount.

“If the winds were to pick up, I wouldn’t like to imagine the horrendous sight of a float going off the Bruce Highway,” he said.

Thoroughbred changes:

Friday: Doomben meeting being transferred to Eagle Farm on Tuesday.

Saturday: Ipswich transferred to Thursday, March 13, replacing Beaudesert meeting, Esk (cancelled), Toowoomba to run as scheduled.

Sunday: Sunshine Coast (cancelled)

Greyhound changes

Wednesday: Albion Park and Capalaba (cancelled)

Thursday: Albion Park and Ipswich (cancelled)

Friday: Ipswich (cancelled)

Saturday: Ipswich (cancelled)

Sunday: Albion Park and Capalaba (cancelled)

Monday: Albion Park (cancelled)

Harness changes:

Wednesday: Redcliffe (cancelled)

Thursday: Redcliffe (cancelled)

Friday: Albion Park* (cancelled)

Saturday: Albion Park (cancelled)

Monday: Redcliffe (cancelled)

* The round one heats for the Jim McNeil Trotting Championship programmed for Friday will be rescheduled to Friday, March 14. Fields and barriers to remain as drawn.

Originally published as Queensland’s racing industry thrown into chaos with meetings cancelled or postponed ahead of imminent arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred