By David Nagel
Cranbourne Turf Club (CTC) chief executive Neil Bainbridge has accepted responsibility on behalf of the club for the abandonment of Friday night’s meeting which was called off just nine minutes before its intended start.
A wet patch was identified by jockey Ethan Brown during his track inspection prior to race one, approximately 200 metres from the winning post.
While the rest of the track was in perfect condition, in the good range, the wet patch was identified as heavy and a safety risk to participants.
Bainbridge said the CTC was at fault when speaking to radio RSN on Saturday morning.
“It’s our issue. No one else’s,” Bainbridge said.
Bainbridge said early investigations suggested the affected area failed to drain as well as the rest of the track after routine watering early on Friday.
Chief Steward Brett Wright explained the situation as it unfolded.
“With the jockeys doing their track inspection, they’ve come across a section at the 200 metres, it’s about seven meters off the rail, three metres wide and three to four metres in length, and it’s pretty much in the heavy range, and quite soft and shifty” Wright said.
“There’s actually moisture coming up underneath, we’re unable to determine as to what’s caused that.
“We’ve spoken to the jockeys, whether we move the rail back in three metres, and that gives them a nine to 10 metre span to try and avoid it, or to go out around it and that leaves us 10 metres.
“Neither was satisfactory really for safety point of view, with field sizes.
“If we had six and seven horse fields, we might have been able to get away with it, but the first couple of races have got 11 and 10.
“And of course, you’ve got the issue, even if the rail goes back in, you could have a horse that’s hanging out, or as they span to get around others, the jockeys are knowing it’s there and they probably won’t do it.”
Wright was uncertain about the track-inspection process that had taken place throughout the day, or how the wet patch had appeared.
“Not that I’m aware of, but it could be something that was just emanating through the day, it might not be from watering or anything like that,” he said.
“There’s no pipes running under there I’m told, again we’re not quite sure what’s caused it.”
In-form jockey Brown had no choice but to highlight the unfortunate situation to stewards.
“The track was a Good 4 everywhere else but when I dug my foot into that area, it was soaked,” Brown said.
“I came back and said to stewards that I’d found a wet patch and they need to check it out just for a precaution.
“It turned to be a lot bigger patch than I thought.”
Racing Victoria issued a statement declaring the meeting had been abandoned due to “an issue with a section of the track.”
“Prior to the commencement of the meeting, a small wet patch was identified near the 200-metre mark which was determined to be in the heavy range,” the statement said.
“Following an inspection by Stewards and jockeys, all riders present in Races 1 and 2 participated in a ballot, with 12 of 14 believing it was unsafe for racing.
“Therefore, in the interests of horse and participant safety, Stewards abandoned the race meeting at 6.06pm.
“RV and the Cranbourne Racing Club will conduct an investigation to determine what caused the wet patch on the track.
“An abandonment fee will also be paid to the connections of the affected horses.
“RV’s Racing Operations team will review the program to determine if the meeting will be reprogrammed, with an update to be provided in due course.”
Although clearly an accident, the CTC was left red-faced due to the abandonment, with the meeting promoted as a fund raiser for popular racing identity Deane Lester, who is currently fighting cancer.
Given its proven dedication to such causes, and undoubted community spirit, the CTC will make alternative arrangements for those fund-raising efforts to continue.
