Racing Victoria (RV) and the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) have today announced changes to this weekend’s Super Saturday meeting at Flemington in light of predicted hot weather.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has currently forecast the temperature to reach 39 degrees at Flemington late on Saturday afternoon.
Given the possibility that the meeting may need to start earlier, RV and the VRC have made the proactive decision to reduce the Super Saturday meeting from 10 to eight races prior to tomorrow’s acceptance deadline.
The following two races have been moved from Flemington to alternative venues across the Labour Day long weekend:
• The $80,000 Benchmark 84 2500m has been moved to Friday night, 8 March at The Valley; and
• The $80,000 Benchmark 84 1100m has been moved to Monday, 11 March at Sportsbet-Ballarat.
The decision to transfer these races considers the VRC’s requirements for raceday operations and setup at Flemington which are impacted by an earlier start. As a result, racing is unable to commence earlier than 10.45am this Saturday if required.
The pre-emptive transfer of the two races has been made to allow the trainers of horses nominated for those races to manage their training and racing schedules accordingly if desired.
It also serves to shorten the raceday in the interests of horse and participant welfare should the forecast remain unchanged and an earlier start is required.
Accordingly, nominations for both races have been reopened and horses that were original entries for Flemington will receive priority in the ballot.
Nominations for the Benchmark 84 2500m at The Valley will close at 4pm (AEDT) today (Tuesday, 5 March), while nominations for the Benchmark 84 1100m will close at 12 noon (AEDT) tomorrow (Wednesday, 6 March) with the remainder of the Sportsbet-Ballarat meeting.
Trainers are advised that apprentice claims for the Benchmark 84 1100m will change from Metropolitan to Provincial as a result of the transfer.
RV and the VRC advise that race times for the revised Super Saturday meeting will be declared tomorrow with the first at 12.45pm in the hope that the forecast is downgraded.
A final decision will be made on Friday morning (8 March), subject to the BOM forecast at the time, as to whether the meeting remains in its scheduled afternoon timeslot or is brought forward to a 10.45am start.