Rockhampton Jockey Club to run first morning meeting due to heatwave

With the mercury set to inch close to 40 degrees on Thursday, horse racing’s heat policy has been involved, making for an historic first at Rockhampton’s Callaghan Park.

The first-ever morning race meeting will be held at Rockhampton’s Callaghan Park due to the heatwave conditions.

In a necessary radical change from convention, the Rockhampton Jockey Club will stage its first “morning” race meeting at Callaghan Park racecourse this Thursday.

The first of the eight TAB races will start at 9.30am, with the majority of the other seven races run off at 30-minute intervals, with the last event at 1.05pm.

Under normal circumstances the 1.05pm finish is about the time the club’s 35 annual race meetings start.

It has been brought about by the extreme heat forecast for Thursday, which was originally tipped to reach as high as 39 degrees but now more likely 38.

Accordingly, Racing Queensland and QRIC’s ‘’heat policy” was invoked so as to avoid the horses racing and stakeholders working in the hottest part of the day.

With animal welfare, rightly, such a high priority, the policy has been in vogue intermittently at race meetings throughout Queensland this summer.

Rockhampton Jockey Club CEO David Aldred.

However, the early morning time schedule is a first for a Rockhampton race meeting at Callaghan Park since racing was introduced there on June 2, 1899.

The implementation of the heat policy guidelines will apply throughout the meeting.

RJC CEO David Aldred said “cool bins” (iced water) would be in place whereby the water hoses to wash and cool down the horses will be filtered through drums of ice water.

“As well, bottled water in addition to our cool water fountain will be in place for racing participants in the horse stall areas,” he said.

The early start will bring about some inconvenience for trainers travelling horse starters from far afield outside centres.

Jockeys will be required to be on-course at Callaghan Park much earlier than normal, some by 8.30am, which has brought about a change to their normal travel routine.

Jockey Justin Stanley will likely fly to Rockhampton on Wednesday night to fulfil his Thursday riding obligations. Photo: Tony McMahon

For instance, leading jockey Justin Stanley flies from Brisbane each race morning to fulfil engagements at all Callaghan Park meetings

However, that is impossible now, meaning Stanley likely flies to Rockhampton on Wednesday night and stays over so as he will be at Callaghan Park in time to ride Latin Love in the first race.

Stanley held a number of riding engagements at the Doomben race meeting in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Of the 16 jockeys at Thursday’s meeting, 10 are visitors from South-East Queensland, with many usually driving up to ride at the Callaghan Park afternoon meetings.

To do so to complete their engagements on Thursday, it is likely that some will have to leave their bases around midnight Wednesday or ever earlier.

Originally published as Rockhampton Jockey Club to run first morning meeting due to heatwave