Second race meeting canned
The first day of 2018 could have been a disaster for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) and the Auckland Racing Club (ARC) if Ellerslie had been abandoned half an hour earlier.
Many will argue the abandonment of the Waikouaiti Racing Club’s New Year’s Day meeting, also because of an unsafe track, following the running of just one race was already enough to reach the catastrophic point for the thoroughbred code.
The ARC managed to get through eight of its nine races before its New Year’s Day meeting was abandoned because of an unsafe surface. Crucially, the eighth race on the card was the most significant.
However, the rain-affected conditions at Ellerslie were not enough to slow down the speed of Volpe Veloce who was too good in the $200,000 Group I Sistema Railway (1200m).
Had the abandonment of the Ellerslie meeting come one race earlier, the public relations disaster for NZTR would have more than matched the rage of the trainers and owners of some of New Zealand’s top sprinters.
The attempts to reschedule would have been instant but any change in date would have been difficult with the $250,000 Group I Telegraph Handicap (1200m) at Trentham just 19 days away.
With 2017 a year that was plagued by regular abandonments, losing the first Group I of the new year plus the majority of the Waikouaiti meeting would have been an epic blow to the thoroughbred code that punters, owners, trainers and jockeys would not have been able to stomach.
Racing Integrity Unit’s chief thoroughbred stipendiary steward John Oatham said it was clear when reviewing footage of the Railway that Fully Funded, ridden by Sam Spratt, had slipped on two occasions. Spratt was not the only rider to report that her horse had slipped during the race.
Oatham told Trackside TV it was a disappointing decision to make with just one race to go but it was ‘‘impossible to carry on’’.
‘‘Based on what they (jockeys) were telling us and what we could see on the films it was quite clear that we couldn’t run the last race with any degree of certainty over safety but also from a competitive viewpoint. Punter confidence would have been severely compromised.’’
The New Year’s Day meeting was hit hard by heavy rain showers that dramatically changed track conditions.
The Ellerslie surface started the day as a good 3 but the track, was quickly downgraded once the heavy showers came bucketing down. By the time the Railway was contested, the track had been downgraded to a slow 9.
The Railway was decimated by the late scratchings of realistic winning chances Ferrando and Heroic Valour due to the downgrade in track conditions. They were later joined by Sacred Star and Irish Moon.
Volpe Veloce, trained at Matamata by Graham Richardson and Gavin Parker, always looked a Group I winner as she racked up seven straight wins at the start of her career.
Richardson indicated the $250,000 Group I Telegraph Handicap (1200m) on January 20 at Trentham will be the standout mare’s next target and did not rule out a trip across the Tasman.