Clearing Weather A Boost For Canterbury
- Wednesday, 22 April 2015 08:23
Surface water on a section of the Canterbury racetrack has drained in time to allow the Australian Turf Club to hold a transferred meeting on Thursday.
The ATC was forced to switch the meeting from Wednesday due to unsafe racing conditions caused by torrential rain but its plans were momentarily threatened during an afternoon track inspection.
Rising water levels in the Cooks River, which runs next to the Canterbury track in Sydney's inner west, caused a part of the surface near the 700m to become waterlogged.
Officials are thanking Canterbury's superior drainage system as well as clearing skies for coming to the rescue.
Increased drainage flow allowed the water to subside but the track will undergo another inspection on Thursday morning.
"A decision will be made to determine whether it is necessary to shift the rail out, around that section of the track," Racing NSW stewards said.
After 100mm of overnight rain, Canterbury has been rated a heavy 10.
But since 11am on Wednesday, it received only 11mm of rain out of almost 240mm for the week.
The course's recuperative powers are the envy of the racing industry, earning it a reputation as Australia's best wet-weather racetrack.
Canterbury will fill a NSW racing void left by the loss of the Newcastle meeting.
Thursday's meeting will be the first at the midweek venue since late February.
It has been closed for racing while international horses competing during the Sydney autumn carnival used Canterbury as a quarantine and training facility.
"Because we haven't raced there for some time the track is holding up very well," ATC track spokesman Lindsay Murphy said.
The four Japanese horses became the last of the overseas contingent to leave the track when they returned home on Wednesday.
Leading jockey James McDonald will not ride at the transferred meeting because he will attend the funeral of prominent New Zealand racing figure Philip Vela who died last week.
