Saturday’s racemeeting at Riccarton was abandoned after horses were seen to slip during the running of race two.
Overnight rain saw the track rated a Dead4 however an incident reported by rider Terry Moseley after the first race saw a group of senior riders and raceday officials inspect the track, which was deemed safe to continue. The quite obvious slip of the Sharon Robertson trained Faux Pas in the second event resulted in a delegation conducting a further inspection where the decision was taken to call the meeting off.
“It’s just devastating for all,” Riccarton Park Chief Executive Tim Mills said.
“The stipes thought that (the slip in race one) might have just been an isolated incident for that particular runner however after the second race more riders expressed their concerns for the footing of their horses which meant there was no option.
“We are going to verti-drain the track later today and tomorrow, which is part of our regular maintenance, and will endeavour to race on Tuesday.
“We will put some horses around the track on Monday to give us the confidence that Tuesday will be a goer.”
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has confirmed that the races that were abandoned on Saturday will be run on Tuesday 9 October.
The fields will remain the same with scratchings re-instated. – NZ Racing Desk