Club officials will seek to have the Taree Cup transferred to December after Sunday’s showcase race meeting was called off due to surface water
The Taree-Wingham club was forced to abandon racing after an inspection on Saturday found surface water lying on two sections of the track near the 1250 metres.
“The field in two races would have had to go over that section including the Cup field,” club president Don Hopkins said.
“We made the right decision to postpone the meeting because it rained all Saturday night and again on Sunday.
“The club will seek permission from Racing NSW to switch the Taree Cup (2000m) and the Mercedes Benz Benchmark 70 (1200m) to its Sunday meeting on December 18.
“Our sponsors are happy for us to move to that date and being our Christmas meeting we can make it a family day.
“By running it on a Sunday we can also mirror our normal Cup day.
“It is a blow to the club and participants that this has happened but we can’t control the weather.”
Taree was poised for a big day until the rain came with an outstanding Cup field and a strong line-up of jockeys including Jay Ford, Robert Thompson and the Berry twins, Nathan and Tommy scheduled to ride.
The postponement has forced Taree trainer Ross Stitt to dramatically change of the programs of his two star gallopers Southern Shimmer and Youthful Jack.
Stitt has scrapped plans to run Southern Shimmer in the Wyong Cup on September 2 and instead will target a feature race at Mudgee and the Dubbo Cup.
“He had to run yesterday if I was going to have him ready for Wyong,” Stitt said.
“I want to have him right for the Taree cup in December which means he will need a break shortly.
“He can run at Mudgee and Dubbo which gives me time then to give him a let-up and have him ready for December.”
The Black Nugget Cup (1600m) will be run at Mudgee on September 4 and the Dubbo Cup (1600m) two weeks later.
Youthful Jack will run in the Springtime Stakes (1100m) at Wyong’s Cup meeting on September 2 to qualify him for the Provincial Cup (1200m) at Newcastle’s cup meeting on September 15.
AAP TURF
