Abandonments Galore: Rosehill, Doomed and more.

[Chief Stipe]

Doomben off: 2025 Qld wet weather claims latest race meeting

www.racenet.com.au

The latest big wet to hit south-east Queensland this year has caused more havoc to the racing schedule, with Doomben Saturday races called off due to a sodden track.

Weeks after ex-Cyclone Alfred caused a brace of meetings to be postponed, and coming after the rich Gold Coast Magic Millions meeting in January was shifted due to a torrential rain, another weather event has seen Doomben unable to race.

The Doomben track has copped almost 800mm of rain in 2025 and, for at least 24 hours, it had appeared unlikely it would race on Saturday.

Officials had tried to put on a brave face and as recently as Friday afternoon they sent out advice to members they were "full of optimism" that they would be able to race on Saturday.

But the call was made shortly after 6am Saturday that the meeting would not go ahead.

The Bureau Of Meteorology had forecast the potential of up to another 50mm of rain on Saturday.

28/3/2025: Umbrellas and rain in the CBD of Brisbane. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Racing Queensland was shuffling some of Saturday's Doomben races onto existing future race cards, as is normal practice.

The Eagle Farm track performs much better when there is significant rain, but it was never going to be able to be called into action on Saturday.

With the Queensland winter carnival looming, Eagle Farm is being prepared for its peak periods of racing.

Eagle Farm will be racing four Saturdays over the next five weekends, leading up to the Queensland Guineas meeting on May 4, prior to a short break ahead of the four Group 1 meetings over five Saturdays during the winter carnival.

Those Saturdays are Derby day, Oaks day, Stradbroke Handicap day and Tatt's Tiara day.

With Doomben off on Saturday, the Gold Coast provincial card that had originally been slated to be run on the course proper at night was shifted to be raced during the day on the poly (synthetic) track.

On Friday, the $750,000 King Of The Mountain card was able to be raced although the Toowoomba track deteriorated to a heavy (10) during the meeting.

Tony and Maddysen Sears-trained sprinter Steady Ready claimed the rich slot race, leading for home and clinging on in the final stages.

[SLB2.0]

A smart decision re: Rosehill, and it's no wonder racing in QLD got cancelled if you watched the races from Toowoomba yesterday, or the NRL for that matter.

[SLB2.0]

Although, with The Championships starting next Saturday, it's going to be an interesting decision to see when they run. It'll have to be Monday or Tuesday, otherwise, those targeting Group 1's next Sat are in trouble.