Light wear and tear across the inside few lanes but nothing out of the ordinary. As is customary, just after the winning post the going is slightly worse through horses pulling up in that section. It walked in the '5' range but rain since probably has it a '6'.
1800m-1200m:
Similar to the previous section there is moderate wear and tear across the inside lanes. It looks like they've galloped a few horses out wide here, or had some jump outs, but nothing will get that wide during a race. It walked just better than a '6' but I've no doubt if the 6mls of rain they've had since is accurate then it will be a genuine '6' track.
1200m-800m:
I felt the middle lanes from the 1100m to the 950m mark were much worse than the fence or out wide. It would really only affect horses from the 1100m and 1200m starts if they're drawn wide and slowly working across. I felt there were areas in that section that would be a Heavy 8, albeit only for a short distance. I'd say the quicker you can get into lanes 1-4 in this section the better. The inside four lanes walked a genuine '6' so wouldn't surprise me if there was a downgrade due to the additional rain forecast to fall today.
800m-400m:
Some scattered sand fill closer to the fence but overall I felt this section was an improvement from the previous. It walked a '5.5' but would be in the '6' range at present. Approaching the home turn at the 500m mark the inside two lanes hold more fill and as a result I'm predicting they work off the rail at this point.
400m-Winning Post:
Still felt the inside two lanes held more fill and would race slower than the wider lanes, particularly if more rain falls. It won't surprise me to see them stretched across the track in the straight. As far as moisture in the surface is concerned, the home straight is probably one of the driest sections of the track. It was no worse than a '5' when I walked it, but it might be slightly softer after the overnight rain.
Verdict
The rail moves out an additional 3m from the last meeting on September 3rd and on that occasion they left the fence alone and came down the middle lanes. I suspect they'll do the same again on Saturday so I wouldn't be treating horses drawn wide too harshly. The chute races (1200m and below) will be slightly different than the others with the strong westerly forecast. I'd imagine horses sitting off the fence may have an edge as they're shielded from the cross-wind as well as being in a good spot to access lanes 3-8 from the 500m mark. It walked just better than a '6' on average but there's been a reported 6mls since I walked it with more forecast today. I'd imagine we'd end up with a rating of '6' or '7' for raceday.
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D P Azzopardi, Musk Creek Farm P/L (Mgr: D H Kobritz), Dream Thoroughbreds Brazen (Mgr: D P Azzopardi), Aspire 2 (Mgr: J Darcy), I R Jones, M J McArthur, J W Minter, M E James, P Halfhyde, N C Rodokal, S W Orton, N S Orton, M D Leitch, V Guzzardi, M Biscan, A Suckling & J D Wedemeyer
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I R Brown, Mrs K L Dansie, R J Donazzan, Ms S G Cramer, D Hamzy, P Piteo, K Cahill, J Haldane, A G Grantham, Mrs C Haldane, B J Bronner, A Kalyvas, A Dente, H N Dansie, C J Altman, Ms J Haldane, P N U (Mgr: G McIntosh) & Don't Tell The Missus (Mgr: D Benjamin)
