Winning Post-1500m: Very little difference between lanes in this section and the coverage is pretty good. Very minor marking only. Walked in the Soft 5 range and should improve between the time of walking and raceday.
1500m-800m (back straight): This section is in very good condition and clearly hasn't been over-taxed with racing of late. I thought it was very even across and also in the '5' range. Can't see any lanes of importance here.
1300m-800m (chute): Incredibly clean surface that looks largely untouched. These 'straight-line' sections are invariably in good condition and this is no exception. Feels like a '5' under foot here as well.
800m-400m: Signs of wear from trackwork beyond lane 6 from this point right to the winning post. The racing surface inside of those lanes is more worn in this section than previous areas. The going isn't as consistent under foot but not a massive difference between any of those inside lanes. If anything, hard fence maybe not quite as good as lane 2 and 3. This section felt softer than the rest of the track and in the '6' range but may dry out before raceday.
400m-Winning Post: There's wear on the outer half of the course as there was in the previous section of the track. Only horses fanning very wide will run across that ground though but worth factoring in if they do get slightly off the fence at any stage. I thought lanes 1-5 were all very similar and in the '5' range. You may see a few come off the fence as a flow on from the previous section but it's only marginal.
Verdict: I think this track will race as the Parks often does with it being a slight disadvantage to be racing wide from the 600m. Some chance that lane 1 is slightly slower going than lanes 2 and 3 but there's not a drastic difference. As a whole, the surface and coverage is good with a break of four weeks between meetings. I felt all sections were in the '5' range aside from the 800m-400m which sat in the '6' range but should improve with fine weather today and tomorrow.
Minella Bloodstock, A T Maloney, Ms N Rantanen Reynolds, D G Reynolds, R A J Lawrie, Mrs M Lawrie, Mrs M J Cross, T J Cross, Mrs J Koster, Mrs W J Koster, Howell Enterprises, N W Highdale, S G Thornton, Mrs H J Tucker, W W Tucker ,R Buckley B Heffernan, D Heffernan, K A Perry & Fire up for Cups
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Owners
M S Riley, M Johnston, P Connors, C D Judd, M I Mccallum, D J Mclean, B J Kirkwood, Mrs C M Peel, K C Garland, A S Cowan, G J Said, J J Spiteri, G A Reynolds, R H Kilby, Mrs P J Kilby, Mrs C T Garland, D G Hanlon, Mrs D L Hanlon, Avagoyamug (Mgr: J Ryan) & Erica Bloodstock (Mgr: Mrs S Dwyer)
