Chief Stipe

Eagle Farm gets unexpected Super Saturday after Queensland Derby Day washout www.racenet.com.au Eagle Farm will host a 10-card Super Saturday of racing next weekend, with a bumper three Group 1s to be staged following the abandonment of four races on Queensland Derby Day on Saturday. Jockeys complained of poor visibility at Eagle Farm after persistent heavy rain during the day, forcing officials to abandon the Derby meeting after five races on Saturday on another wet day in Brisbane. The jockeys met after the running of the Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce (1400m), won by Cool Archie on a Heavy 10 track, before voicing their concerns about visibility in the awful conditions at Eagle Farm. It means Group 1 races the Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) and the Queensland Derby (2400m) will be rescheduled to next Saturday at Eagle Farm, with the Queensland Oaks (2200m) for 3YO fillies to be run as per normal on that day. The Fred Best Classic, which offers the winning three-year-old a golden ticket into the Stradbroke Handicap in two weeks, will now be staged on Wednesday on Doomben. However, the Group 3 Fred Best will now be run over the shorter distance of 1350m instead of 1400m. The winning trainer of the Fred Best will need as much time as possible to prepare their horse for the Group 1 Stradbroke (1400m) on June 14. Just five of the nine races on Saturday were contested before RQ officials decided to abandon the key winter carnival meeting after the jockeys voiced their concerns about the poor visibility on the track. "We work with the riding group and obviously the rider and horse welfare is the No.1 priority when it comes to these issues," Racing Queensland chief steward Josh Adams said. "We felt the track was safe but it was the visibility and the kickback which ultimately resulted in the remainder of the card being cancelled. "Hopefully the rain goes away and we can run the rescheduled races under fine conditions next week." Martin Harley after riding Cool Archie to victory. Picture: Trackside Photography • Kiwi import at home on heavy track in dominant Eagle Farm win To accommodate the three rescheduled races from Derby Day, a Benchmark 90 Handicap and Class 6 Handicap due to be contested at Eagle Farm next Saturday will be shifted to the Sunshine Coast next Sunday. All scratchings will be reinstated for the rescheduled races. Brisbane Racing Club will honour all general admission tickets from Saturday for the Eagle Farm meeting on next weekend. Weather in Brisbane should fine up from Tuesday and little rain is predicted from then onwards for the rest of the week.

We have come full circle. Some stables appear to have better adapted horses as well which brings us back to early training of yearlings and 2 yr olds. The science literature shows that horses that have undergone early age preps have a greater racing longevity and less injury than those that don't. Carefully Training an early 2 yr old on an AWT may actually be an advantage. As long as it was a properly maintained AWT.

Not NO for the very reason that some horses are predisposed to the injuries listed by @Special Agent. That's where the experience of Trainers helps prevent those injuries.

That's my assessment as well. However some horses will gallop faster and safer on a very firm turf surface than an AWT.

Don't risk galloping a horse at speed on any surface.

Define what you mean by "safe".

Might be a fair point but I don't get your point.

Which Turf Tracks?

Your choice. Most Cambridge Trainers have adapted.

Did @Huey and @nomates buy in?

Your assessment is?

But with everyone except you otherwise they'll go broke.

Yes but anyone really interested in the science could have researched that. Many of us have to some degree or other. Although perhaps it might give something to some OTJ stakeholders to think about.

I'm surprised @SLB2.0 hasn't commented on the ride on @curious 's horse Malfy Rosa. But good effort by both. Seems Ears Back doesn't listen to its owner @Transparency.

You can't fault the track at Whanganui today. Looks great and performing well.

Who or where is the source of information @Brodie?

This Report is just what I though it would be. Tries to cover far more than it needed to and at the end of the day doesn't really satisfy any of the various stakeholder groups and their respective levels of understanding. I don't mean that to sound arrogant but some of you will agree that the science part of the report is above most. My initial career was in Science and I had to read slowly and reread some parts of it to fully grasp the concepts. At the end of the day there were two questions that needed to be answered and I'm not sure the Report hits those marks. Were the AWT's installed as per the agreed specification (assuming there was one)? Have the AWT's been maintained to the level and at the frequency required for the track to perform as specified? Simple as that. All we have now is fodder for all the naysayers. Leadership....

Shaun Ritchie seems to make this strategy work. Will be interesting to see if his $400k purchase which he has fully syndicated goes OK. Davideo (GB) 2020

Well if you think that then get off the couch and open your wallet!

"Most Probably" - then don't fall off!!! Geez it's not as if you all didn't know these things weren't coming and NZ isn't the first to have them.

What's the going rate for Literature Reviews?

Isn't that how the ENTAIN TABNZ pods in bars in New Zealand work now? Except giving food and drink handouts. They don't at the moment with the Pub Pods. The built in camera has got your picture when you bet especially when you bet big. If you use a credit credit that ID is recorded straight away. BTW on the new machines you have three ways of funding your betting - credit card (paywave is available now), voucher and cash. If you start pumping a lot of cash in the staff at the pub will get a call from ENTAIN and ask who is it. ENTAIN need to be quite vigilent as they don't want to get into AML breaches e.g. like what they are defending in OZ.

That's not how I read it. I think you are extrapolating the literature review findings to the NZ tracks. Which is a misleading aspect of the report. There is over two decades of research cited - nearly all of which was available BEFORE these AWT's were built in NZ. I disagree with your last statement too where you attribute injuires more to the make up of the track than poor maintenance. What the report does highlight with respect to the maintenance is the considerable variation between the 3 tracks and variability within each track. That is where the introduction of a Quality Assurance Programme ensuring maintenance procedures and standards are met will be beneficial. Hopefully it will be an independent QA Programme and not one that relies on the integrity and effort of the track managers and/or their managers. I'm sure Trainers can help with monitoring!

I don't touch anyone's posts. I see @Pete Lane had second thoughts during the 5 minute cool down period and edited his.

It's not silly and I stand by my statement what do Jockeys know about maintaining or even designing a synthetic track? One of their tasks is to NOT fall off. What you have quoted just says "it hurts when you hit the ground". The Jockey even contradicts himself in the statement where he says he doesn't know if would be any different on dirt. However your quote also eludes to the fact that the tracks in California deteriorated rapidly. There is no reference to when or where these comments were made so it is difficult to gauge if we are comparing apples with apples when looking at the NZ AWT's. The key fundamental is to assess the tracks impact on horse health and safety. If they can race on the surface and not sustain serious injury then it follows that the Jockey's are safer. It doesn't matter what type of track you have - if you don't maintain it reguarly and properly it will become unsafe or unusable. Such as what is happening with our turf tracks.