Track walked at 1pm Thursday 25 August 2022.
Winning Post-1500m: Quite even across and genuine give in the ground. I wouldn't describe it as fast ground, its reasonably rough but at least consistent right across. Minor fill in the first few lanes and walked just better than a '7'.
1500m-800m (back straight): There's a bit of sand-fill in lane 1 courtesy of the rail moving out a few metres from the previous meeting. The track is a touch lumpy but coverage is solid enough for this time of year. I thought it walked like ground that would result in slow times but I can't imagine there being superior lanes. It felt like a '7' track to me.
1400m-800m (chute): There's a touch of sand-fill across the inside three lanes and it also gave me the feel they won't be running slick times across it. Looking just inside the running rail where they raced last meeting I felt the ground was very similar to what they'll race on this Saturday. It was hard to make ground at that meeting so it's worth bearing that in mind. Felt like a Soft 7 and with fine weather I think it could only be a '6'.
800m-400m: Still quite lumpy in this section but I do feel it's even right across the inside six lanes. Marginally more fill in lanes 1 and 2 but I doubt that will have an impact. Plenty of give in the surface and it walked a '7' to me. I thought it was also going to be slow ground and I can see it being hard for horses to make up ground quickly from the back given the ground is quite loose.
400m-Winning Post: Rounding the home turn there is more fill across the inside two lanes which makes me think they won't be hard up on the fence all day. Given the surface is quite loose I think they might struggle to make up a lot of ground from the turn, so I'd be happy to look at horses that settle within striking distance turning. Nothing wrong with the lanes out very wide should one or two end up out there. Walked a '7' but could improve a rating with fine weather.
Verdict: Overall I thought the rating at the time of walking it was a '7'. There's plenty of give in the surface and the track is relatively open, which makes me think they'll get into the top of it and the times won't be overly fast. At the last meeting here on Wednesday August 17 we saw an average winning margin of 2.4L and only one of the winners (Another Free Glass) came from further back than 2L (2.8L) at the 400m mark. This was despite more than half the races being run at a tempo that I would describe as fast. My feel is that horses looking to make up a lot of ground at the 400m mark might struggle to get the traction they need to run home fast enough to catch those in front. I'd be happy to back horses settling in the first 33% of the field but I'm expecting them to use a fair bit of the straight as the meeting goes on.
