Winning Post-1800m: Some minor wear across the inside two lanes which is where they'll be racing in this section. The growth has probably started to cease given the time of year. Coverage still holds together quite well, walked into the '4' range.
1800m-1200m: Felt hard up on the fence here walked as slower ground. Not an area where you see jockeys actively seek to race in a particular lane but it won't surprise me if horses travelling off the fence, particularly in a three-wide position, spend less energy in this section. Coverage is solid here, probably the strongest part of the track. Walked a '4'.
1200m-800m: Wasn't convinced that hard fence would be the place to be here. Marginally more wear here and thought the going close to the fence was slightly less consistent than in wider lanes. I couldn't find a lot of difference between lanes 2 and 10 so there's plenty of even ground for them to race in. The rail moves out an additional two metres in this section from where they raced last week.
800m-400m: Much the same as the previous section in that hard up on the fence has more wear and is slightly less even to walk. It certainly doesn't fall into the 'no-go zone' bucket but I'd imagine horses in lanes 2 and beyond will have a slightly nicer time of it. We haven't seen a lot of fast tempos in the sprint races so far this carnival which might offset the track should that trend continue.
400m-Winning Post: Thought the inside two lanes had more wear than out wider. Not a lot of fill to speak of anywhere, courtesy of the recent meetings being run on tracks that weren't very rain-affected. I still thought that you'd see quite a few horses out in the wider lanes. The last meeting here followed a similar pattern, where horses out wide were able to run well despite covering more ground turning. Walked in between a '4' and a '5' but I'd imagine without any rain forecast it would be a '4' for raceday unless they irrigate.
Verdict: I think you'll see a track that races well, as it did last week across the six races that were held on the outer track. Hard up on the fence was a little less consistent than out wider so I certainly wouldn't treat horses drawn wide gates too harshly. The rail moves out a couple of metres from the last week between the 1200m and the winning post. I liked that there was very little sandfill required to be put on the track after the last meeting. There's no rain forecast in the lead up to Saturday and only very light winds predicted on the day. The track rating should land on a '4' assuming no irrigation, given the cold overnight temperatures and likely dew.
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T J Doudle, Free Money Saturdays (Mgr: J W Butcher), Mrs M L Butcher, B W Lonergan, P J Thompson, R D O'Shea, B J O'Shea, D W Turnbull, S J Theodore, Paaratte (Mgr: E Dean), A J Brown & M L Rogers
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Ms J Heaney, C McLean, Mrs M Holton, R Warnock, N Holton, Mrs P Southern-Ninnis, P Ninnis, J Atkinson, R Holton, Ms C Holton, C Reynolds, S Rolls, Mrs S Reynolds, Mrs L Warnock, Ms M White, Ms R Atkinson, G Conron, G S Dankert
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