Drizzle at Farm ‘no concern’
Queensland racing officials concede the state’s premier racing surface isn’t at its best but remain confident Eagle Farm will come good in time for the looming winter carnival after a long, humid summer.
After years of renovations, Eagle Farm roared back to life as Australia’s best wet weather country track over the past two years. However, a slow, consistent drizzle across southeast Queensland has left it with minor issues.
Despite a handful of winners coming up the rail, most jockeys on Saturday sought better ground to the outside of the track.
Brisbane Racing Club executive general manager Matt Rudolph said despite losing two meetings at Eagle Farm and Doomben last week, there were no alarm bells going off ahead of the winter.
“It probably hasn’t raced as well as it has in the past. We are nursing it through a bit at the moment,” he said.
“We have two weeks off until we have three meetings in a row, then there is basically four weeks off until the carnival.
“We aren’t immune to the elements that southeast Queensland can throw up and we have seen that across all tracks.
“They aren’t at their optimum standard at the moment, but we aren’t concerned.”
With the brand new Gold Coast track in a race against time to host their Group 2 Hollindale Stakes meeting on May 11 and the heavily used Sunshine Coast grass track out of action, there is a crunch when it comes to turf racing in southeast Queensland.
While Randwick raced on a safe surface after 230mm of rain in 24 hours, Brisbane has been dogged by consistent drizzle, which has created a headache in keeping fungus and other diseases out of the grass.
“This is the time of year when you can cop it,” Rudolph said.