Te Rapa to go ahead
Waikato Racing Club officials are confident Saturday’s Group I meeting will go ahead despite recordbreaking rain pelting the North Island
The club’s general manager, Ken Rutherford, said unless there is significantly more rainfall than what is forecast in the next 48 hours, the meeting will be proceeding.
The Te Rapa track was hit with 110mm of rain in the 24 hours leading up to yesterday morning’s heavy 10 penetrometer reading.
‘‘If I was a betting man I would say we are about $1.02 or $1.03 to proceed on Saturday,’’ Rutherford said.
A significant amount of rain had fallen on Wednesday but there was also fine spells.
More rain was forecast overnight Wednesday through into Thursday morning but Rutherford suggested the rain radar was predicting mostly fine weather from Thursday afternoon through to Saturday.
‘‘As long as the weather forecast plays ball we should be fine,’’ he said.
Rutherford understood that people would be thinking the worst given the ‘‘incredible’’ amount of rain that has fallen across the North Island but if the weather forecast is accurate, he predicts the Te Rapa surface could get back to a slow 7 or 8.
Saturday’s meeting, headlined by the Group I New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, was transferred to Te Rapa from Te Aroha because of issues with the track and forecast heavy rain.
Rutherford was hopeful the weather will not deteriorate because the calibre of the field for the $200,000 race deserves the best possible surface.
‘‘It’s a terrific race. The previous winners of the race reads like a catalogue of the who’s who of fillies and mares.’’
Earlier on Wednesday, the disastrous run for the thoroughbred code continued with confirmation that Friday’s meeting at Awapuni had been abandoned.
RACE INC group racing manager Brent Wall confirmed the Manawatu Breeders Stakes and a rating 75 over 1550m have been transferred to Saturday’s Trentham meeting.
The Awapuni meeting was the third to be abandoned in just two days as the tail end of cyclone Debbie dumps unprecedented amounts of rain on the North Island.
Wednesday’s Waipa meeting was abandoned following the track surface receiving 54mm of rain by Tuesday morning.
The Wanganui Greyhound Racing Club was forced to abandon its Wednesday meeting at Hatrick Raceway because of a State of Emergency being declared in Wanganui and flooding concerns.
Today’s nine-race card for the South Canterbury Racing Club at Phar Lap Raceway will go ahead but the track was rated a heavy 10 and more rain is forecast.