Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing’s scheduled meeting at Pukekura Raceway today, Thursday 5th December 2013 was canned without a race being run. Stewards, along with a deputation of senior riders and trainers inspected the track an hour before the first race was due to run and deemed the track unsafe for racing. There was surface water pooling on areas of the course following prolonged heavy rain in the previous 12 hours. ”We recorded 100mm [rainfall] last night and a further 40mm fell from mid-morning,” said TTR chief executive Carey Hobbs. He said officials inspected the track at 7am when the rain had stopped temporarily and at that stage there were no concerns that the meeting would not proceed. ”We had another 40 mm from mid-morning and when we checked the track again and there was surface water on the track,” said Hobbs. ”Everyone including trainers, jockeys and the Racing Integrity Unit were unanimous that the meeting be abandoned because of likely visibility problems for riders.” Hobbs said the racing club had budgeted on making a $20,000 profit on the meeting. He said under the current funding policy in regard to abandonments the club would receive a small payment to help cover the costs of setting up the meeting. The next meeting at Pukekura Raceway will be a pre-Christmas twilight fixture on Monday, December 23, 2013.
