The Hong Kong Jockey Club abandoned the sixth race at Sha Tin on Saturday after jockeys complained of poor visibility in Race 3 on the rain-soaked all-weather track. Track staff are now working to save Race 10, and officials will make a call after an inspection following Race 8.
Stephen Higgins, the Jockey Club’s head of raceday operations, tracks and racing facilities, called the 55 millimeters of rain that fell overnight “a significant amount of rain.”
“The problem with the dirt track is that if you get that in one downpour, it’s generally fine. It runs off the track. But what we saw overnight was rain throughout the night, and that gets into the profile of the track and makes it sloppy,” he said.
Hong Kong Observatory readings show rain falling across Sha Tin district in every hour between 10.45pm on Friday and 6.45am on Saturday. It was heaviest between 2.45am and 3.45am, when some gauges in the district recorded up to 20 millimeters. The Observatory raised the amber rainstorm signal at 3.50am and cancelled it at 5.30am. The turf started the day Good to Yielding and the dirt Wet Slow.
Race 3 was the only race run on the dirt before the call. Hailtothevictors came from midfield to win the Class 5 Panashop Handicap over 1650m for Jerry Chau Chun-lok and trainer David Eustace, beating Happydearhappydeer by two and three-quarter lengths. Mazing Grace, the 4.4 favorite, led for most of the way and held on for third.
The field finished more than 40 lengths apart from first to last. Zac Purton’s mount Superb Guy came in 12th, 36 lengths behind the winner.
“Whilst those conditions elsewhere in the world are deemed safe, the jockeys are probably more experienced on that surface,” Higgins said.
“Clearly, here we had that problem in Race 3, and the jockeys were uncomfortable in terms of racing on it so close to Race 6. So we’ve taken the decision not to run that race.”
Race 6, the Class 4 Panasonic Nanoe Hair Dryer Handicap (60-40) over 1650m, was worth HK$1.17 million and had drawn a field of 14 for its 3.25pm start.
Tractors and graders went onto the track straight after Race 3 to strip out moisture. Losing Race 6 gave the track team a longer window to work.
“The decision has been made that we’re now trying to remove some of the material from the racing area,” Higgins said. “Because we’ve now got that extended break, it gives us the opportunity to do that, and we’ve obviously got drying conditions.
“Our intention is to complete that before Race 8 and then have an inspection of the track after Race 8 with the jockeys and stewards. We’ll make a final decision relating to Race 10 after Race 8.”
Higgins said an American-style dirt track drains sideways, so the water has to move across the surface and into the drains. Sunshine speeds that up but the track maintenance team were immediately out on the track after Race 3 grading and dragging the surface in an effort to quicken the process.
“Our intention is to try and speed that up by removing the wettest of the surface material and bringing it to the outside of the track, where horses won’t be racing,” he said. “That should give us 10 to 15 meters, hopefully a maximum of 15 meters, from the rail of safe racing ground for Race 10.”
Race 10 is the Class 3 Technics Headphones Handicap (80-60) over 1650m, due at 5.35pm.
Higgins said the call to abandon Race 6 was an easy one.
“Obviously, we’ve got to talk to the participants,” he said. “We saw a fall on the weekend in a barrier trial, and that had nothing to do with the track. But the way things are, safety will always be the most paramount issue for both horses and jockeys.”
