The Alice Springs Turf Club’s final race meeting of the season, scheduled for Sunday, has been abandoned due to the condition of the Pioneer Park surface.
After remedial work on the dirt surface, which took place a day after the last meeting on July 14, the track has not recovered in time thus forcing the meeting to be called off.
As a consequence, trainer Terry Gillett and jockey Paul Denton have topped the charts in the Alice Springs and Provincial premierships for the 2023/24 season.
With 25 wins, Gillett finished ahead of Paul Gardner (23), Kerry Petrick (19.5), Greg Connor (18) and Lisa Whittle (18).
Denton (24 wins) finished ahead of Sonja Logan (19.5), who won the title last season, Stan Tsaikos (18), apprentice Dakota Gillett (16) and Jessie Philpot (15).
“Unfortunately, the track didn’t recover in time, and the decision was made to abandon the meeting,” Thoroughbred Racing Northern Territory chief executive Andrew O’Toole said.
“It’s pretty disappointing, but hopefully they will be back racing in Alice Springs on August 10.”
David Westover, Chairman of Stewards in Alice Springs, inspected the track on Monday and deemed it unsafe for racing this Sunday.
Westover had previously inspected the track last Saturday, and although there had been vast improvement by Monday, it was still considered unfit for racing.
It is believed that following the grading process, stones covered a major portion of the track that would not have been removed in time.
There was also a lack of oil on the track, with some sections showing no oil where the new sand had been laid, particularly from the 600m and continuing past the winning post.
The lack of oil does not provide horse and rider with a safe racing surface, as there is no cushion in the track for a horse at full gallop.
There has been slow track work at Pioneer Park for the past three to four days and oil will be applied on Saturday.
“Hopefully, the meeting will go ahead on August 10, the program might have to be amended though,” O’Toole said.
“Perhaps add a race and shorten a couple of distances because horses won’t be ready to go 1400m and 1600m.
“We’ve then got the Truckies Day meeting on August 25, one of the big days outside Carnival, which will see the running of the $40,000 Red Centre Winter Series Final.”
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