Perth Racing has this morning advised Racing WA that, given the significant deterioration in weather forecast overnight, the Club is not in a position to stage tomorrow’s scheduled Belmont Park race meeting.
With the BOM forecasting up to 11mm overnight and then between 15-40mm of rainfall throughout the late morning and afternoon, the meeting will therefore be transferred to Pinjarra (original track). The Graduation 2100m (Race 4) will now be run over 2000m. All other fields and distance to remain the same.
We were optimistic on Wednesday afternoon, when the forecast was for between 3mm-15mm, that we would stage the meeting with no issues. However, with the forecast minimum rainfall having increased fivefold, and the likelihood of receiving significantly more than that throughout the period we would be racing, we could not be confident of completing the meeting. We also have to consider the management of the remediated section of the Belmont Park track; if we race on a heavy surface, we run a significant risk of damaging the turf as it is still establishing roots, jeopardising our ability to stage meetings in the coming weeks.
We are extremely aware that changes at late notice are disruptive to all participants, Members and patrons, and we apologise for this. However, the most important considerations are always the welfare of participants and the desire to ensure that scheduled race meetings are staged, rather than risk abandonment and the subsequent loss of opportunity to distribute prize money.
We would like to extend our thanks to the Committee and team at Pinjarra Race Club for staging the meeting.