Racing Victoria (RV) wishes to advise that the Alexandra Picnic Raceday scheduled for this Saturday, 28 October has been abandoned due to the impacts of recent rainfall.
RV Stewards inspected the Alexandra track this morning (Monday, 23 October) and determined the surface was unsuitable for racing.
Of particular concern was a section near the 800m mark, after the track received approximately 150mm of rain in the previous two weeks. Given that there is little prospect of the track improving to a suitable condition by Saturday, the decision was taken to abandon the meeting.
RV acknowledges that this is disappointing news for the Alexandra Racing Club given the amount of work that has gone into their preparations for the race meeting, however horse and participant welfare must be prioritised.
RV’s Racing Operations team will monitor the acceptance numbers at upcoming picnic meetings and look to divide races if necessary to accommodate horses that have missed a start at Alexandra.
The 2023-24 picnic racing season will now commence at Healesville on Saturday, 4 November, with Mansfield set to follow shortly thereafter on Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday, 7 November).