A decision on whether racing at Eagle Farm goes ahead will be made following an early morning track inspection by Racing Queensland stewards on Wednesday.
Eagle Farm is already rated a heavy (10) but a low situated off southeast Queensland is causing some concerns despite only drizzling conditions prevailing for most of Tuesday.
Despite the recent inundation stewards declared Eagle Farm safe for racing following a track inspection on Tuesday afternoon.
Steward Dan Aurich said Eagle Farm was saturated but there were no safety concerns.
“The track is very heavy but it’s quite uniform,” Aurich said.
“We’ll go out and have another look first thing tomorrow morning around 6am but if there’s any overnight rain then the meeting will be in jeopardy.
“Even with a fine night the track is still going to be very heavy.”
Course manager Bill Shuck has had his hands full with the big wet in recent days.
Eagle Farm was rated a dead (4) for the start of last Saturday’s meeting but finished up a heavy (9) following two downpours during the day.
Several jockeys complained of visibility problems during the meeting and stewards were prepared to call off the program had the rain not cleared.
The rain forced stewards to put back the meeting by one race, allowing the program to proceed on a race-by-race basis.
Eagle Farm has since received a further 56mm of rain until 9am (AEST) on Tuesday.
“We couldn’t have raced yesterday at Eagle Farm or Doomben but the conditions are a little brighter today,” Shuck said.
Shuck said Eagle Farm has had one of the wettest starts to the year with more than 500mm recorded since New Year’s Day.
“The track is saturated but at this stage we’re still on but a lot will depend on what happens overnight,” Shuck said.
“We’re lucky the first race isn’t until 1.33pm (AEST) so hopefully we can get some fine weather beforehand.”
Racing Queensland had scheduled seven races for Wednesday but only six races were declared at acceptance time on Monday.
AAP TURF
