Racing Victoria steward Allan Reardon said stewards made the decision to divert the horse traffic so that horses would be kept away from the many bees buzzing around the vicinity of the hive.

“A cameraman put a tripod down and it just stirred them up. They’ve obviously been there a long time,” Reardon said.

“We had the horses walked on to the course proper through a gate closer to the birdcage to avoid them.”

There were no reports of any people or horses being stung.

The weather had already claimed Saturday’s meeting at Kembla Grange south of Sydney leaving Grafton in the Northern Rivers region as the only fixture in NSW.

Chief steward Ray Murrihy inspected the track on Saturday morning and said the water had not drained off Warwick Farm forcing the cancellation of the meeting.

“We didn’t need any more rain overnight,” Murrihy said.

“Warwick Farm is an old track and it doesn’t drain great.”

Australian Turf Club officials will work to try to reschedule at least some of the races which were vital lead-ups to the autumn carnival.

Hong Kong agent Willie Leung was the successful buyer with bidding brisk from an opening offer of $200,000.

The High Chaparral colt out of La Souvenir is the highest priced yearling so far at the Karaka sale.

So You Think was bought at Karaka for $110,000 and trained by Bart Cummings to win two Cox Plates.

Dato Tan Chin Nam sold a controlling share in So You Think for a reported $30 million to Irish racing and breeding concern Coolmore.

The horse has gone on to win Group One races in the northern hemisphere and is the early favourite for the Dubai World Cup in March.

Kavanagh, with the help of his fiance Kelly, intends to run a boutique stable in Adelaide after serving his apprenticeship running the Adelaide branch of his father’s operation.

Kavanagh’s brother Levi, currently based at Flemington, will run his father’s Morphettville stables.

“I spent 2006 in England with Peter Chapple-Hyam and got a lot out of that and after Dad moved over to Melbourne after that we’ve had a really great run over here (Adelaide),” Sam Kavanagh said.

“We’ve won a couple of premierships and won a few really good races over here and a few of the horses have gone to Melbourne and won.”

Kavanagh said his parents and stable clients had been very supportive and he would start with a small team.

His initial horses include the likes of Magic Millions Two Year-Old Classic placegetter Alezan Thunder, South Australian Derby prospect Meshmaker and Listed Christmas Hcp (1400m) winner Bagman who runs in Saturday’s Rain Lover Plate (1800m).

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The meeting was abandoned before the first race when jockeys raised concerns over a section of the home straight between the 400 and 250 metres which was in the slow range compared to the rest of the track which was dead.

Racing Victoria’s chief operating officer Bernard Saundry said the track, which was irrigated on race morning, had not been prepared as required.

“Unfortunately for all the track was not prepared in accordance with our track preparation policy,” Saundry said.

“The track was downgraded from a Dead 4 to Dead 5 upon arrival by Racing Victoria stewards with the section between the 400m and 250m mark downgraded to a Slow 6.

“Furthermore, a section of track at the 300m mark was considered softer again and raised concerns for competing jockeys upon inspection.

“This breach of policy is unacceptable and we will now consider whether sanctions on the club are appropriate.”

Racing only returned to Benalla last month after drainage problems and renovations caused the closure of the track for racing for 12 months.

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The decision to proceed with Saturday’s eight event program followed the wash out of four TAB meetings during this week’s rain in south-east Queensland.

The Australia Day meeting at Doomben on Thursday was abandoned and was followed by Friday’s Ipswich and Caloundra meetings and Saturday’s Gold Coast program.

Racing Queensland chief steward Wade Birch, who inspected the rain-sodden Doomben on Saturday morning, is confident all eight races will go ahead provided no rain falls.

“We’ve had to make two distances changes. We’ve brought the 1350 metre race back to 1300 metres and the 2000-metre race is now 2100 metres because we didn’t want to move the barriers,” Birch said.

“It’s a very heavy track and one of the heaviest we’ve seen but it’s safe we believe.”

Doomben has received around 300 millimetres since Monday which followed 100mm recorded earlier this month.

Doomben missed most of the rain which fell in Brisbane on Wednesday with only 10 millimetres being registered in the rain gauge overnight.

More rain and storms are forecast for the south-east region, although it isn’t expected to match what was seen earlier in the week.

Brisbane Racing Club course manager Bill Shuck said 290mm of rain had fallen since Monday which came on top of 100mm of rain recorded earlier this month.

“The humidity is extremely high today and if we’re to race we can’t afford one more drop of rain,” Shuck said.

Racing Queensland chief steward Wade Birch will inspect the track on Friday afternoon and provided conditions allow, hopes to gallop two horses to determine its safety.

“The forecast is for more rain to come and the humidity is a concern,” Birch said.

“If we don’t get much more rain we intend to gallop two horses tomorrow afternoon but it could be over by then if it starts raining heavily again.”

Doomben is rated a heavy 10 for Saturday’s meeting which includes the $100,000 Listed Channel Seven Nudgee Handicap (1200m).

The meeting was originally set down for Eagle Farm but was transferred to Doomben after Thursday’s Australia Day meeting at Doomben was washed out.

Meanwhile, racing will proceed on the grass track at Caloundra on Friday night and won’t be transferred to the cushion track.

However, the meeting remains in serious doubt with the week’s rainfall exceeding 442 millimetres.

A track inspection on Friday will determine Caloundra’s fate.

Friday’s meeting at Ipswich is proceeding at this stage, pending a track inspection on race morning following 172mm of rain in Ipswich this week.

The fate of the Gold Coast meeting on Saturday also hangs in the balance while the Caloundra card set down for Sunday has been transferred to the cushion track.

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Stewards inspected the track after races four, five and six and it was following the running of the second last race the decision was made not to proceed in the interests of jockey safety.

“With continuing rain and the track being downgraded earlier in the day to a heavy 10, the conditions becoming darker….we are not comfortable that even with eight runners in the last race it could be run safely,” deputy chief steward Greg Rudolph said.

“I think we did pretty well to get as far as we did.”

The Gosford meeting was an Australian Turf Club fixture run at the provincial track due to the redevelopment of Randwick.

The meeting started off on a slow (6) and race-fit two-year-old Agueda upstaged a couple of blue-blooded first starters to take out the Royal Randwick at Gosford Maiden Handicap (1000m).

The Anthony Cummings-trained filly took advantage of her race experience and it proved decisive as she controlled terms from the front to score by 1-1/4-lengths.

Chasing her in second was the Gai Waterhouse-trained The Broken Shore who is a half-sister to champion sire Redoute’s Choice.

You Got The Love, by More Than Ready out of Group One winner Lovely Jubly, was fourth.

Agueda had finished second to the impressive Waterhouse-trained Raceway at her most recent start at Warwick Farm and ran right up to that form with Peter Robl aboard.

“She jumped, found the fence and was just too good for them around Gosford,” Robl said.

“Speedy little fillies like her are suited on a track like this with a short straight and she did it well today.

“She was only beaten four lengths by Raceway last start and he’s the favourite for the Blue Diamond.”

Cummings’ son Edward said the stable went into Wednesday’s event with a degree of confidence based on the filly’s performance behind Raceway.

“It was a very good effort last start behind a smart horse of Gai’s and she was able to get within a few lengths of it and put two lengths between herself and the rest of the field that day,” Cummings said.

“So we came here today with a good deal of confidence and she did the job.”

Cummings said his father would assess how the filly pulled up before deciding whether she continued to press on towards the autumn carnival.

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As part of the Australia Day celebrations, one jockey in each of the first six races at Warwick Farm will carry special Australia Day silks featuring the Australian flag.

In the $100,000 Listed Australia Day Cup (2400m), the colours will be worn by internationally-experienced hoop Glyn Schofield who rides the Chris Waller-trained import Wazn.

“And the horse usually races in the colours of Ken Hunt who is an Englishman,” Waller added.

“He has given the club permission for the horse to race in the Australia colours tomorrow.

“You get to keep the colours and I think it’s a great idea.”

Waller moved to Australia 11 years ago from New Zealand and has enjoyed remarkable success including claiming his first Sydney trainers’ premiership last season.

Schofield, who has been based in Sydney for the past four years and is currently second on the Sydney jockeys’ premiership, is happy to sport the special silks.

“I’ve got a little South African flag on the back of a lot of my riding pants,” Schofield said.

“I’ll make sure I take them and wear them as well so I have both flags on me.”

Another of the horse’s who will sport the special silks is Australian Star in the second race.

“We felt that was appropriate so we approached the connections and they were happy to do it,” said Australian Turf Club racing manager Colin Tuck.

If any jockey wearing Australia Day silks wins on the day, racebook holders will score a $5 TAB bet to spend on a race of their choice at Warwick Farm.

Patrons who wear clothing bearing an Australian flag will also receive free course entry.

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The John Sadler-trained Sell In May came up with gate 11 in the field of 14 plus two emergencies, while Anthony Freedman’s hope Ockham’s Razor drew 13.

Worth $NZ1 million ($A780,00) the Karaka Million (1200m) is New Zealand’s richest race and has also enticed several Australian jockeys.

Craig Williams will partner Ockham’s Razor as he looks to continue his stellar big race form while Ben Melham will ride Sell In May.

Fellow Victorian-based hoop Damien Oliver has picked up the mount on Mai Guru while Sydney’s Corey Brown and Hugh Bowman will also travel across the Tasman to partner Green Wings and Silk Pins respetively.

The Karaka Million is restricted to graduates of the 2011 National Yearling Sales Series.