Bendigo and St Arnaud Cups on track despite predicted rainfall

An official decision on next week’s Bendigo Cup is getting closer with organisers positive despite more rain forecast. Here’s what they said.

One of country Victoria’s biggest days on the racing calendar looks set to go ahead.

Officials from the Bendigo Jockey Club have confirmed the Bendigo Cup on October 26 remains on track to be run despite more rain forecast in the coming days.

There were doubts about next Wednesday’s event after last week’s meeting was cancelled with 120mm of rainfall in central Victoria.

Bendigo Jockey Club’s Rob Trewin said the racetrack remained in good condition.

The remainder of the club did not suffer any damage during the wild weather.

“We’ve had some fairly sunny days and the track is a soft 5, so it is up into the fairly decent range (to race),” Trewin said.

“The Bureau (Of Meteorology) have backed it off (the forecast) so unless we get an incredible amount of rain, we would expect the meet to still be on.

“We didn’t have any damage or anything like that.

“For next week, we’ve had to make some adjustments to our planning when it comes to the marquee and other areas because the grass in some areas is still wet (and probably won’t dry out.

“But we’ve managed to fit it all in.”

Nominations for the Cup close on Thursday with a full field to be released on Monday.

Next week’s Bendigo Cup is on track to be run. Photo: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

St Arnaud’s own Cup Day looks set to go ahead this Saturday.

The track is currently rated as a heavy 8 but St Arnaud Turf Club’s Penny Penfold expected it to be upgraded.

Penfold believes the predicted weather in coming days will help improve the track’s condition.

“It’s all systems go and the forecast has come back for us,” she said.

“We’ll miss all the bulk of the rain, according to the latest forecast.

“We’ve got a bit of rain forecast, 1-5mm tomorrow (Thursday), 5-10mm Friday and 1-5mm later on Cup Day.”

But Penfold said if the forecast is true, the day will go ahead.

“Our confidence has grown much higher as the week has gone on,” she said.

The Sale Cup is expected to also go ahead on Sunday.