Ellerslie Postponed

The Informant reports:

Heavy overnight rain and no sign of a let-up has forced the Auckland Racing Club's hand in rescheduling the Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup day programme to Thursday.

A pre-dawn inspection of the Ellerslie track after more than 80mm of rain had fallen since late yesterday left officials with no option but to pull stumps on a card headed by three Group One races.

At the start of the week the track was rated Good2, but then then the weather bomb that has hit the northern region began to have an impact. Overnight Tuesday 72mm of rain sent the track to Dead6, a rating that it held after a further 11mm up to yesterday afternoon.

But the heaviest rain was yet to come, with the Ellerslie rain gauge showing more than 80mm and still rising as officials carried out their track inspection at 6am.

“Unfortunately for everyone involved today's race meeting is off,” ARC chief executive Cameron George told www.theinformant.co.nz at 7.30am. “We've now had over 100mm since late yesterday and the forecast is for further rain.

“With that volume the track is starting to pool water and amongst various factors, clearly visibility would be an issue out on the track.

“The plan now is to run the meeting as a twilight on Thursday, with the four Group One races (Auckland Cup, Sistema Stakes, New Zealand Stakes and Westbury Classic) and an undetermined number of races on the support card.”

The long range forecast for Auckland is weather clearing on Monday and clear skies for the remainder of the week.

Further details will follow as they come to hand.