Rescheduled races a nice compromise after Oaks Day washout

FOR the cynics, the 9am call to abandon Saturday’s Oaks meeting was justification that the new Eagle Farm track does not live up to the hype.

Stewards and officials inspect the Eagle Farm track on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters

FOR the cynics, the 9am call to abandon Saturday’s Oaks meeting was justification that the new Eagle Farm track does not live up to the hype.

For realists, the cancellation was an inevitable and sensible outcome in the midst of a sustained deluge that had surrounding suburbs under water.

The only question was why it took so long for officials to halt proceedings when it seemed obvious at 7.30am the meeting was never going to proceed.

BRC chief executive Dave Whimpey defended the delayed call.

“We always said it would be an hour by hour decision,” he said. “There’s no way we would have called it off (earlier) based on the gallop we had in the morning. The track was draining.

“After that we had another 30mm of rain. The last couple of hours made all the difference. It was a big call.”

In the end, the decision was made easy because it was deemed unsafe for the ambulance to drive on either the dirt or A-grass tracks.

By the scheduled start time just after midday, as the rain lifted, the new track was safe to race. BRC general manager tracks and facilities Warren Williams said the new drains were only at 50 per cent during the peak of the deluge.

“There was no surface water during the whole event. The water was draining as per the design and the drains could have handled a lot more water,” he said.

“Overall as a surface for being safe, it was OK to race on. The cancellation was more about the weather. The issue was going to be visibility and kickback.”

Heavy rain left officials with little choice but to abandon Saturday’s meeting. Picture: Grant Peters

Criticism was levelled at Racing Queensland and the BRC for not having the foresight to reschedule the meeting to Sunday or Monday, like The Championships in Sydney last year.

The difference on that occasion was that they were able to transfer to a public holiday. A Monday card with $1.45 million prizemoney would be a wagering disaster.

In the end, the two entities have struck a reasonable compromise, with four races rescheduled.

Yes, it leaves connections of horses in The Phoenix, Daybreak Lover and Eagle Farm Cup without a lead-up for bigger assignments this Saturday, but it is the best of an unavoidable weather event.

The upside is that Stradbroke Day will be run on a new, unharmed, surface and Eagle Farm trainers will still have their A-grass to work on this week.

Originally published as Rescheduled races a nice compromise after Oaks Day washout