A day after rain forced the postponement of the Doncaster meeting at Randwick, clear skies and a rise in temperature have given hope of a track upgrade.
Saturday’s meeting was transferred to Monday after a 9am track inspection and a forecast for more rain and a Heavy 10 track, the worst possible rating.
But with the rain ending sooner than forecast and no more predicted until late on Monday, the Australian Turf Club’s manager of racetracks, Lindsay Murphy, is hopeful of a much brighter outcome.
“It is still heavy but with the warmer weather and no rain before the meeting I would say it would be a Heavy 9 in the morning and hopefully an 8 later in the day,” Murphy said.
“The rain stopped at 4am which was sooner than predicted so we have had some relief.
“There is rain predicted on Monday but not until later in the day or the evening.”
The rescheduling of the meeting means all Saturday morning scratchings have been reinstated, leaving leading Doncaster contender Kermadec as the second emergency.
On Saturday he was in the field along with first reserve Sweynesse but both three-year-olds now have to rely on scratchings.
Kermadec’s Chris Waller-trained stablemate Moriarty was a scratching but with the track upgrade may now take his place.
Godolphin’s It’s Somewhat was also scratched with a temperature but was passed fit when it returned to normal 24 hours later.
Topweight Binalong Road has been scratched from the $300,000 Country Championship final with Hugh Bowman now riding the second emergency Apistanna.
Sweet Idea, a last-start winner of the Galaxy, will undergo a veterinary examination to confirm her place in the TJ Smith field after she was found to have soreness in her neck.
Jockeys have also had to juggle their commitments with Melbourne-based riders released from the Sandown meeting to return to Sydney.
Craig Newitt and Corey Brown made the trip back to Singapore to ride at Kranji on Sunday and will return on an overnight flight.
