THE meeting scheduled for Menangle on Monday afternoon has been transferred to Wednesday. A number of race meetings have been called off in New South Wales since the arrival of the east coast low weather pattern on Friday and after discussions with TAB and Sky Racing, the decision was made to move the meeting to Wednesday.
The meeting will be covered by Sky Racing 2 with the new race times confirmed.
Race 1 1:59pm
Race 2 2:29pm
Race 3 2:59pm
Race 4 3:26pm
Race 5 3:56pm
Race 6 4:26pm
Race 7 4:57pm
Race 8 5:30pm
Harness Racing New South Wales Chief Executive John Dumesny knows the Menangle track and it surrounds and has only witnessed water levels as high on one other occasion.
“When I first arrived in 1988 there was a bad flood and the water got up quite high but this is the worst it has been since the new track has been built,” Mr Dumesny said.
“The track itself is fine, with a little bit of work it is right to go but unfortunately getting the horse onto the course is a different matter. The river that flows behind the track is yet to peak but the water should drain away reasonably quickly anyway.”
The New South Wales Harness Racing Club’s Chief Executive Bruce Christison confirmed the rain gauge used to measure rainfall at the track had overflowed meaning more than 255mm had fallen since Saturday morning.
“We need a new gauge, I’ve never seen rain like it and I’ve been with the Club for 20 years but there is no rain now and the clouds are clearing,” Mr Christison said.
“Most would understand the volume of rain parts of New South Wales and Queensland have received over the weekend and the Menangle track definitely got its share.”
Track staff have already started to work on the track in preparation for this week’s racing.
“There is a spot over in the back straight that needs some work but there was no actual flooding to the track itself. Because of all the rain the track is on the hard side but the team will ensure it is ready to go.
“There is a lot of water at the entry to the track, that may take awhile to drain fully but it has already started to go down. For those that know the Menangle track, you can see the river got halfway up the embankment behind the track but has already gone down a metre or so in a couple of hours.”
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