With local temperatures forecast to reach 38 degrees on Saturday (1 January 2022), Racing Victoria (RV) wishes to advise that all race times for the traditional New Year’s Day meeting at Flemington have been brought forward with the program now scheduled to begin two hours earlier at 10.35am.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is predicting temperatures at Flemington to peak between 4-5pm and so, in the interests of equine welfare and the wellbeing of racing participants, RV and the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) have jointly taken the decision to bring the meeting forward.
The last of nine races, the Santa Ana Lane Sprint (1200m), is now set to jump at 3pm (moved from 5.40pm) whilst the meeting’s two feature races, the Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m) and the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes (1400m), will start at 1.45pm and 2.20pm respectively.
Horses will only be required to arrive at the track one hour prior to their scheduled race.
The amended race times for the meeting are set out below:
Race 1: 1035
Race 2: 1105
Race 3: 1135
Race 4: 1205
Race 5: 1235
Race 6: 1310
Race 7: 1345
Race 8: 1420
Race 9: 1500