Remaining Geelong program abandoned

Racing Victoria (RV) and Geelong Racing Club (GRC) advise that the remaining six races on today’s Ladbrokes Geelong program have been abandoned due to severe winds.

After the running of race two, jockeys met with RV Stewards to raise safety concerns due to wind gusts which were increasing in velocity.

With the Bureau of Meteorology advising that winds were due to gradually subside throughout the afternoon, Stewards delayed the meeting by 30 minutes to allow time before reassessing weather conditions.

After conditions failed to improve prior to the running of race three, stewards made the decision to impose a further delay to give the remainder of the meeting the best possible chance of proceeding.

Following further consultation with jockeys and with no guarantee that the severe wind gusts would reduce in velocity, the decision was made to abandon the remainder of the meeting after jockeys voted 11:1 in favour of abandonment.

Under RV’s abandoned meeting policy, the connections of any horses engaged to run in races three to eight are eligible to receive a compensation fee.

Trainers affected by the abandonment can nominate their horses as extended entries for the meeting at Bet365 Hamilton this coming Tuesday, 9 December by emailing the Racing Operations team before 5pm this afternoon on RVracing@racingvictoria.net.au.

They can also nominate their horses as normal entries for the meeting at Sportsbet Sandown Lakeside this coming Wednesday, 10 December by 10am tomorrow morning, Friday, 5 December.

RV’s Racing Operations department will review the upcoming race program in order to determine whether any changes are required to accommodate those horses.