Winter Challenge rescheduled after Randwick washed out

The Randwick meeting was called off after the opener won by two-year-old True Crime due to safety issues with the extremely heavy track conditions.

Lees had already withdrawn $3.3m earner Mugatoo from his much-awaited comeback in the Winter Challenge due to the wet track but will reconsider starting the seven-year-old now the final stakes race of the season has been switched to next Saturday’s Rosehill Gardens meeting.

“I’ll nominate Mugatoo for the Winter Challenge on Monday,’’ Lees said.

“But it is still up in the air if I run him as the tracks are so wet and won’t be drying out any day soon.

“There are also barrier trials scheduled for Scone on Wednesday and that is also an option.’’

Racing NSW can reinstate the four horses that had been scratched from the Winter Challenge – Mugatoo, Attorney, Edison and Durston – into the Rosehill race.

The other alternative is to call for a new set of nominations on Monday.

Either way, the final stakes race of the season will be saved for the final Sydney Saturday race meeting of 2021-22.

Sydney’s premier trainer Chris Waller will get the chance to bring up his 50th Group or Listed level win for the season with either Oscar Zulu and Durston.

He has been the nation’s leading trainer of stakes winners for 2021-22 with James Cummings next on 32 wins.

Champion jockey James McDonald didn’t have a Winter Challenge ride at Randwick but might pick up a mount in the feature race at Rosehill and potentially improve on his nation-high 44 stakes wins for the season.

As the rain eased and the sun came out at Randwick early in the afternoon, those punters still on track were wondering if the decision to call off the remaining nine races on Saturday might have been premature.

But Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel explained there was no alternative but to postpone the final nine races on the program after the downpour during the Randwick opener.

“Most jockeys who rode in that race felt that there was significant kickback affecting their visibility,’’ Van Gestel said.

“On top of that the ground is quite shifty.

“We have had significant amounts of rainfall in Sydney the last few months and there is just nowhere for the water to run.

“There was about 7mm of rainfall since 6am and the water is just sitting on the surface, there is nowhere for it to drain away.

“The jockeys felt it wasn’t safe to continue and the stewards agree after having assessed what we have seen.

“It was the only decision we could make in the interests of safety.’’

Randwick track manager Michael Wood said the course proper was safe for racing but visibility was an obvious concern for jockeys.

“Walking the track this morning, the track was fine and safe to race. The stewards were there this morning, too,’’ Wood said.

“But with big fields for the next two races and visibility an issue with more showers coming, the stewards had to make the call.’’

Wood said the unprecedented rainfall figures in Sydney this year are taking a toll on racetracks.

“We have had 350mm-plus of rainfall for the month of July so far,’’ he said.

“There has been more than 1900mm of rainfall at Randwick for the year to date and that is about 1000m over our average yearling rainfall.

“I think the meeting would have been fine without a massive downpour and the visibility problems in the first.’’

Champion jockeys Tommy Berry and Kerrin McEvoy said visibility issues and the waterlogged track conditions meant that it was unanimous among riders not to continue with the Randwick meeting.

Berry rode the winner, True Crime, in the only race run at Randwick on Saturday and despite the youngster’s comfortable victory margin his horse wasn’t comfortable in the conditions.

“There is so much fill in the track and with all the having fallen already this year, the rain has nowhere to go,’’ Berry said.

“The tracks are so waterlogged the rain that came was sitting on top of the track.

“I have had a month off and would have loved to keep going but it’s very, very heavy and the rain made it impossible to keep going.’’

McEvoy, one of the most experienced and highly regarded riders in the Sydney jockeys room, said visibility was a major concern.

“It’s just unfortunate we got those showers this morning,’’ McEvoy said.

“The first three got through it but the others didn’t. It was really testing ground. Visibility is a problem and the track is saturated.’’

Originally published as Randwick program called off after one race but Winter Challenge rescheduled