By ROY ASPINALL
SANDOWN jumps racing meets were abandoned on Saturday after heavy rain made the track unusable.
The feature events from Saturday’s meeting, the $101,500 Australian Hurdle (3400 metres) and the $101,500 Australian Steeplechase (3900m) will now be run at Sandown as the climax of the 2013 jumps racing season on Wednesday, August 28.
Racing Victoria chairman of stewards Terry Bailey walked Sandown on Saturday morning with track manager Tim Bailey and decided there was no choice but to abandon the meeting. “Sandown had 56mm of rain up until 5.30am and it had continued to rain until I left the track at 8am,” Bailey said.
“It’s unfortunate for all, but the track was simply too wet and unsafe for racing.”
Racing Victoria operations manager Paul Bloodworth explained that there were no suitable options to reschedule the races this week.
“We considered a range of options for the conduct of these races and determined that the most suitable one, given the existing program, was to transfer them to the end of the season where they would remain a focal point.
“Sandown was booked out for much of the coming week for use of its car track and had we transferred the races to Mornington on Monday week it would have impacted on either of these races or the feature jumps races programmed for Bendigo six days later.”
Bloodworth added that an early to mid-August date had not been chosen so as to avoid a clash with the South Australian Grand National Hurdle and Grand National Steeplechase.
The $80,000 Australia’s Best Pie Competition 2013 Handicap (1600m) for three-year-olds and the $80,000 Le Pine Funerals Plate (2100m) will both be run at Moonee Valley this Wednesday with the existing fields and barriers as they stood at final acceptance time.
The Le Pine Funerals Plate will now be run over 2040m.
The $100,000 Sportingbet Handicap (1200m) and the $100,000 Le Pine Funerals Plate (1400m) for mares have both been added to the Flemington program this Saturday.
All other races will not be rescheduled.
