Kerrin McEvoy hopes rain won’t take edge off Eagle Farm’s grand reopening

MELBOURNE Cup-winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy has given the revamped Eagle Farm track the thumbs up, but hopes Saturday’s grand reopening isn’t ruined by torrential rain.

Kerrin McEvoy says the Eagle Farm track will be “just about perfect” if the rain stays away on Saturday. Picture: Annette Dew

MELBOURNE Cup-winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy has given the revamped Eagle Farm track the thumbs up, but hopes Saturday’s grand reopening isn’t ruined by torrential rain.

McEvoy, who will shoot for his third Group 1 of this Queensland Winter Carnival when he rides Dawnie Perfect in the Queensland Oaks on Saturday, had his first spin around the new Eagle Farm on Tuesday morning.

After McEvoy partnered Dawnie Perfect in a track gallop alongside Clarry Conners’ stablemate and fellow Oaks filly Queen Of Wands, the jockey was happy with the state of the track.

However, he hopes weather forecasts of up to 30mm of rain on Saturday doesn’t stuff up one of the biggest days of Queensland racing.

“I walked Eagle Farm last Saturday but it was great to have a ride around it today and it rode quite nicely,’’ McEvoy said. “I think it will be just about perfect if the rain stays away.

“It would be disappointing to see too much rainfall with the first meeting on the track. You want to give the track every chance to stay consolidated and you don’t want to see it get ripped up.’’

The new Eagle Farm, revitalised with more than $22 million of renovations, should drain much better than the old track. However, any new racing surface needs time to settle and the predicted rain on Saturday is far from ideal.

The main concern of several leading trainers is not necessarily how the track will play this Saturday, but how it will recover for the following Saturday on Stradbroke Day.

“When there is lots of rain on any new track it will get cut up a lot, and running Group 1 meetings there two weeks in a row is a bit of a worry,’’ one trainer said.

While the weather is in the lap of the gods, McEvoy feels Dawnie Perfect is ready to peak in the Oaks. The filly, who won the Group 3 Ethereal Stakes on Caulfield Cup day last year, has been getting better every time she steps up in distance this campaign.

Kerrin McEvoy, left, puts Dawnie Perfect through her paces at Eagle Farm on Tuesday. Picture: Annette Dew

“She has come out of her Doomben Roses run in really good order,’’ McEvoy said. “Clarry has been happy with her improvement each run and she has been looking to get out to 2400m.

“The Roses was a stop-start affair which didn’t really suit her but she was running on well at the end. She is in good form and getting to a bigger track will suit her.’’

Originally published as Kerrin McEvoy hopes rain won’t take edge off Eagle Farm’s grand reopening