Leaky pipe washes out Turffontein meeting
The race meeting at Turffontein on Saturday was abandoned halfway through after a leaking water pipe caused flooding on a key section of the track.
After the running of Race 4, the track manager discovered water leaking from the main sprinkler supply pipe on the outside of the track at the 600m mark. The water flow was shut off but a section of the racing surface was already waterlogged.
The inside running rail was then moved to zero to afford a running width of 5.5m.
The Chief Stipe duly convened a panel of officials, trainers, jockeys and the track manager to inspect the track and, taking into consideration the risk of horses running into wet ground at the 650m mark in the next four races, which were sprints, decided to abandon the remainder of the meeting (Races 5 to 9).
Entries for the Ladies Stakes (Race 6) will be reopened and Saturday’s runners guaranteed a place should they declare to run.
And the Spring Spree Stakes will be carried over in its entirety to Saturday, 8 September, at Turffontein.