Trainers were left a frustrated group following the late decision to call off the Kembla Grange meeting on Saturday.
Despite no rain being recorded at the South Coast track in the past seven days, the meeting was lost due to the jockeys’ decision not to ride caused by a section of the track in the home straight which they deemed too wet.
At 5am on Saturday, stewards were informed that a “sprinkler malfunction” had occurred leaving the track soaked around the 200-metre mark on the track.
• PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
“Luke Price (trainer) and Brock Ryan (jockey) galloped on the track and although they felt the section of the track was a couple of gradings worse, they were happy enough with the surface,” Racing NSW chief steward Tom Moxon said.
“Stewards arrived at the track and inspected it with the club officials and with the forecast, they were happy that the meeting could proceed.”
A group of jockeys, including senior riders Grant Buckley, Christian Reith and Kegan Latham, inspected the track on multiple occasions with stewards before the decision was made that the meeting would not proceed.
“The decision was made to put the meeting back a race and inspect it again but the riders deemed it unsafe leaving us with no option but to call the meeting off.”
The meeting will now be rescheduled for Monday.
Originally published as Kembla meeting postponed after sprinkler soaks a part of the track overnight