Winning Post – 1800m: With a New Year’s Eve meeting held on the course proper it is on the quick back up from the Monday Boxing Day’s 9 race program. This section of the track walks with some minor scuff marks from the previous meeting but its minor, there is a decent amount of grass cover but overall it’s in solid condition with this section of the track mainly used for horses pulling up after the race with one 2000m race on this program and a small field to add.
1800m – 1200m: This section of the track is well presented and has a carpet like feel all the way up the Bray Street side of the course, with plenty of grass cover this part of the track should be ideal for horses and will race in the good 4 range.
1200m – 800m: With a decent amount of grass cover, this section also walks a consistent Good 4. At the 800m there is some minor scuff marks in lanes 1 to 3 from the previous meeting but nothing major, overall it will race and hold up in good condition.
800m – 400m: Around the 700m the track walks a little uneven in sections and we have some mid-range scuff marks which are consistent along the inside lanes which may see riders start to plot away or slightly shift if possible away from the inside approaching the home corner, with the small fields for most of the day I think we will see leaders looking to slide away and kick on the bend to come away from the traffic from the previous meeting.
400M to the Winning Post: This section of the track walks a Good 4 right across, with some minor marks from the Boxing Day meeting riders may come away from the fence where we see good grass cover outside of the inside lanes, the grass cover is strong towards the middle and with a warm day expected we may see the track upgraded to a Good 3 at some stage.
Verdict: Backing up after the Boxing day meeting the rail remains in the same position for this program which will leave some minor scuff marks at different sections of the track. The course walks a Good 4 but warm conditions expected for Saturday we could see an upgrade. The riders may look to slightly come away from the inside looking for fresh lanes to run through the line and with small fields for the first half of the card we may see tempo and tactics play a big part of how the track plays.
Ms H Harvey, C Bieg, Mrs S E Bieg, Miss J Hall, HAPC (Mgr: C Powell), Woodstock Racing (Mgr: A Larwood), Ms N Rantanen Reynolds, D Reynolds, Mrs J Swinton & S Swinton
