Black Caviar stole the show at the re-opening of Randwick on Saturday but one of the lasting images was of Snowy the pony limping alongside her.
Snowy was being ridden by Network 7’s Hamish McLachlan as he interviewed jockey Luke Nolen at the end of the race.
The Australian Turf Club (ATC) moved quickly on Sunday to reassure people via twitter the horse was doing well after spraining a fetlock having worked without incident for the previous eight races.
“Our @7netsport pony Snowy’s fetlock sprain on the mend after catching @blackcaviar2006 for a chat. All is good. Thanks for the well wishes.” the message said.
As Snowy continues to recover, the partially completed multi million dollar grandstand will be in use again for the next two Saturdays.
There were some teething problems with just two floors of the new grandstand in use catering for a restricted crowd of 23,000 but overall the club was pleased with the meeting.
“People have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week on this so to pull off a successful raceday under that sort of pressure, I’m so proud,” ATC chief executive Darren Pearce said.
“It’s the first time everything has been used under pressure and we’ll learn from it and get better and better.”
Pearce said there were some “congestion issues” due to the fact only half of the grandstand was open but envisaged that would rectify once Randwick was fully complete.
The racecourse also has a development plan for a hotel to be built on the site.
The theatre of the horse at the back of the grandstand proved confusing for some, with many trainers pushing for the presentation of winners’ trophies to be held in front.
Both Chris Waller, who had a stakes double on the day, and Black Caviar’s trainer Peter Moody said they thought the winner should stay in front of the crowd.
