Golden Slipper washed out: What happens now?

The biggest day on the Sydney racing calendar has fallen victim to the wild weather. So what happens to the Golden Slipper now?

Jockey Hugh Bowman celebrates after riding Farnan to victory in last year’s Golden Slipper. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Saturday’s Golden Slipper meeting at Rosehill Gardens will not go ahead due to heavy rain and the state of the track.

After more than 25mm of rain overnight, stewards inspected the track early Saturday morning and deemed it unsuitable for racing.

WEATHER: Follow our live coverage as NSW enters danger zone

The thought of a postponement of Slipper day was in the minds of the stewards during the week, when there was some 50-100mm forecast to hit western Sydney on Saturday.

Officials are considering a number of contingency plans and will announce them shortly.

News Corp Australia reports the options are moving Slipper Day to midweek, or transferring the five Group 1 races including the Golden Slipper to the Tancred Stakes meeting next Saturday.

Another possibility is pushing Sydney’s entire autumn carnival back a week and having the Golden Sipper meeting next Saturday.

Today's Rosehill Gardens meeting has been postponed with 117mm of rain for the week and 23mm overnight. Small sections of the track are beginning to squelch and increased rain forecast. A contingency plan will be announced shortly

— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) March 19, 2021

There had been some optimism on Friday the meeting could proceed, however further inspections of the track found it unfit for racing

“Small sections of the track are beginning to squelch and increased rain forecast [saw the meeting postponed. A contingency plan will be announced shortly,” a Racing NSW statement read.

TV presenter Abbey Gelmi pictured at Royal Randwick Racecourse before the Golden Slipper this weekend. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Clementine McVeigh is the 2021 Longines Golden Slipper Day ambassador. Picture: Toby Zerna

It is the second time the Slipper has been pushed back due to wet conditions, with the 1963 feature postponed to the Wednesday after copping a deluge of rain.

Slipper day is arguably Sydney’s biggest race day on the calendar, with five Group Ones across the nine-event card.

Races will go ahead at Goulburn today, with a revised schedule.

Please note that with the Rosehill meeting postponed today, new race times have been allocated for Goulburn:
 
R1 - 1310
R2 - 1345
R3 - 1425
R4 - 1505
R5- 1545
R6- 1630
R7 - 1710
R8 - 1745@goulburnraces

— Racing NSW Stewards (@RNSWStewards) March 19, 2021

This article was originally published by punters.com.au and reproduced with permission