The east coast’s big wet has washed out at least half-a-dozen race meetings, with tracks from Brisbane to the NSW/Victoria border deemed too dangerous and visibility poor.
Meetings at Kembla Grange, Albury, Gilgandra and Lismore in NSW and Queensland’s Gold Coast and Goondiwindi were abandoned on Saturday.
In Brisbane, a dumping of around 70mm on Eagle Farm since midnight forced the abandonment of the Queensland Oaks meeting.
It was to be the first meeting at the venue for 22 months after a multi-million dollar refurbishment of the track and facilities.
“We worked two horses on it at 6.30am and the track was safe. But when we looked at 9am there were divots with rain filling them up,” chief steward Allan Reardon said.
“The forecast was for even more rain and it was not an option to go ahead.
“The track was solid but we also had to think about the ambulance because the dirt was out of action because of the rain.”
The Group One Queensland Oaks and the Group Two QTC Cup will be transferred to the Stradbroke Handicap meeting next Saturday.
Racing at Rosehill in Sydney’s west has gone ahead on a heavy (10) track after several inspections.
The Bureau of Meteorology declared a severe weather warning along the entire NSW coast for what meteorologists believe is the first time in 30 years.
