Winning Post-1500m: Very even across the lanes of the track that they'll race on in this section. The grass is very long but will no doubt be cut in the next 24 hours. Plenty of give in it.
1500m-800m (back straight): There's some wear in lanes 3 and 4 but don't think too many horses will be racing in those lanes here. Grass still yet to be mowed but didn't give me the impression that it will race as quick ground. More give than usual and solid coverage.
1500m-800m (chute): Though the inside two lanes were very similar and sat in the '4' range with a good amount of give and coverage. There's some minor wear in lanes 3 and 4 from the previous meeting where the rail was in the 5m position.
800m-400m: Last week the rail was out in the 8m position here and the wear and fill from that meeting becomes about lane 5 for Saturday which should largely take it out of play. Perhaps closer to the 400m mark we might see a few horses start to peel wide and I'd imagine lanes 1-3 would be an advantage as they enter the straight.
400m-Winning Post: There's more wear and sandfill in lanes 5,6 and 7 here. That said, hard up on the fence doesn't feel like fast ground and the stick breaks the surface with very little pressure. I'm not tipping the overall times to be quick on the day but there's no doubt the inside three lanes are cleaner than out wide. Hopefully the amount of give in the track plays a role in inhibiting leaders from skipping away and gaining an edge.
Verdict: We've only had one meeting on the Parks track in 2022 with the rail in the True position and that was on February 5. I thought the track raced well on that occasion and the three meetings since have basically been in the 3m, 5m and 8m positions, in that order. I felt there might be a slight edge to horses racing closer to the fence with some minor wear impacting horses peeling out wide turning. I was surprised with the amount of give in the surface, it felt well into the '4' range which is a good sign for Saturday. We also see a couple of races on the outer track on Saturday and I did have a walk of it from the 1000m mark to the entrance of the straight. I felt the inside couple of lanes might race a bit slower than out wide but with only two races we'll probably struggle to test that theory.
Rail details
Parks Track: True Main Track: +3m 1200m-W/Post; True Remainder
W B Kluske, B G Kluske, G B Kluske, Mrs A D Kluske, Mrs V H Maddern, C R Sundberg, D G Maddern, A F Wright, Ms B Harnett, Mrs J M Norris, W R Norris, Ms S Butler, K Richardson & G Wingard
