Awapuni
Race Images Palmerston North
Weekend racing was dealt another blow on Saturday when the Manawatu meeting at Awapuni came to a premature end.
After just one event, the fixture was called off due to the unsafe state of the track.
It followed the loss last month of the Wanganui Cup meeting because of dangerous underfoot conditions and the Cambridge meeting at Te Rapa where strong winds blew over a large part of the running rail in the front straight.
On Saturday, the Kylie Little-trained Lucyinrio slipped badly with 800 metres to run and jockey Johnathan Parkes was lucky to stay in the saddle.
"It would be hard to see a horse lose its footing that badly without falling," chief stipendiary steward John Oatham said.
"Everybody was desperate for the meeting to go ahead, but safety comes first and an inspection of the track showed indications of movement.
"The club requested to put a slicing machine through the track, but it was clearly a hazard and we couldn't say with any certainty that it had fixed the problem.
"The riders were excellent and they had the right attitude. They wanted to ride, but at the end of the day we had to question whether they could go out and confidently do their mounts justice."
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's general manager of racing Matt Hall said the remaining seven races, including the Gr.2 Kamada Park Manawatu Challenge Stakes and the Gr.3 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup, have been rescheduled for tomorrow (Sunday).
The running rail at Awapuni will be moved out to the position it was for the opening day of the meeting. – NZ Racing Desk.
After just one event, the fixture was called off due to the unsafe state of the track.
It followed the loss last month of the Wanganui Cup meeting because of dangerous underfoot conditions and the Cambridge meeting at Te Rapa where strong winds blew over a large part of the running rail in the front straight.
On Saturday, the Kylie Little-trained Lucyinrio slipped badly with 800 metres to run and jockey Johnathan Parkes was lucky to stay in the saddle.
"It would be hard to see a horse lose its footing that badly without falling," chief stipendiary steward John Oatham said.
"Everybody was desperate for the meeting to go ahead, but safety comes first and an inspection of the track showed indications of movement.
"The club requested to put a slicing machine through the track, but it was clearly a hazard and we couldn't say with any certainty that it had fixed the problem.
"The riders were excellent and they had the right attitude. They wanted to ride, but at the end of the day we had to question whether they could go out and confidently do their mounts justice."
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's general manager of racing Matt Hall said the remaining seven races, including the Gr.2 Kamada Park Manawatu Challenge Stakes and the Gr.3 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup, have been rescheduled for tomorrow (Sunday).
The running rail at Awapuni will be moved out to the position it was for the opening day of the meeting. – NZ Racing Desk.