Eagle Farm to perform magic act in wake of freak 192mm rain bomb

Eagle Farm’s track manager remains confident tomorrow’s race meeting will go ahead despite a freak weather event which dumped almost unprecedented rain on Brisbane.

The Eagle Farm track’s renowned drainage powers could perform their most incredible magic act yet, with track manager Jim Roberts confident they will race on Saturday as long as the improving weather forecast is correct.

As of mid-Friday afternoon, the track had copped 192mm in a freak weather event which turned Brisbane into a flood zone in a rain deluge of epic proportions.

After walking the track on Friday afternoon, Roberts declared it was a Heavy (10) and there was some concern over one section.

However Roberts said if the forecast of just 0-1mm of rain on Saturday proved correct, the Eagle Farm track – whose superior drainage is a hallmark of its most recent renovations – would be suitable for racing.

South East Queensland has woken to torrential downpours, in what authorities are calling Brisbane's wettest day since the 2022 floods.

Reports from the @BOM_Qld said the Brisbane suburb of Paddington received 181mm overnight, while 175mm fell in Mt Coot-Tha, and 162mm in central… pic.twitter.com/Jrci0d9ceE

— 10 News First Queensland (@10NewsFirstQLD) February 15, 2024

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“To be honest, 99 per cent of the track is not too bad,” Roberts said.

“We have had a lot of rain, but the track is safe.

“There is no water laying anywhere, except there is a little section at the top of the straight about the 380m mark where it looks to me like some water has breached the outside fence and run across the track a bit.

“That is more squelchy than the rest of the track and I will get the stewards to come and have a look at it.

“It is definitely in the heavy (10) range and we have no idea what the weather is going to do now.

“But at the moment, I would say we would be racing on Saturday.”

Scenes in Brisbane on Friday. Picture: NCA Newswire / John Gass

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Roberts said the crucial factor in racing the nine-race metropolitan card could be not having a downgrade of the Saturday weather forecast.

The Eagle Farm track drains fabulously well, but it needs to stop raining.

“Even though it drains well, when it is pouring down with rain it can only drain so much,” Roberts said.

“It’s like filling your bathtub up and then filling it up again.

“But, honestly, it’s not too bad at the moment.

“All things going well I will put a couple of horses over the track at 6am on Saturday and see how it is.

“I am still pretty confident the meeting will go ahead.

“Overall, I am pretty happy with it considering the amount of rain we have had on it.”

Due to the massive southeast Queensland downpour, Friday night’s Sunshine Coast meeting was canned and four races from the abandoned meeting were transferred to Sunday’s Sunshine Coast card which will now host 10 races.

The Saturday meeting on the Gold Coast – which had been scheduled to be raced on the course proper – was transferred to the poly (synthetic) track.