Omakau gallops meet in doubt over track
Another day, another gallops race meeting in doubt.
After the worst possible start to 2018 with the Waikouaiti Racing Club’s New Years Day meeting abandoned after race one and the Auckland Racing Club’s meeting called off after race eight more issues may loom for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing.
The Omakau gallops scheduled for today in central Otago is in doubt because of a particularly wet area around the final turn into the home straight.
An inspection of the track was being made last night after yesterday’s harness meeting there ended to monitor the drying progress.
A final assessment and decision will be made early today after the RIU and Club Officials have inspected the area.
Fortunately the ARC managed to get through eight of its nine races before its major meeting was called off because of an unsafe track, losing just the final race.
Crucially, the eighth race on the card was the most significant.
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 with tracks affected by slippery surfaces, 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.
As it is, the 2018 year has started extremely poorly for NZTR. Its New Year’s wish of fewer abandonments has lasted about as long as the average New Year’s resolution. There are many issues for NZTR to work on in 2018 but New Year’s Day proved that the unacceptable number of abandonments sits firmly at the top of list.
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, that was hosting its seventh meeting in less than a month, 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. 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 Telegraph race on January 20 at Trentham will be the standout mare’s next target and he did not rule out a trip across the Tasman.
Volpe Veloce’s 2018 looks likely to feature many more celebrations but unless the number of abandonments can somehow be limited it could be a challenging year ahead for NZTR and many of its racing clubs.