Bushfire Smoke Forces Racing Meeting Abandonments and Shifts
Someone is showing some sense in Thoroughbred racing, as the smoke is nearly thick enough to put one in mind of London fog on a fine London day.
There is a meeting at Flemington on Saturday that might be shifted to Sunday. Mid-week meetings at Caulfield and Yarra Valley were abandoned.
Some much-needed rain might fall and knock the smoke down a bit, but the weather bureau expressed the view that the haze would be back Saturday.
RV racing operation manager Paul Bloodworth offered these comments on RSN, “The next couple of days are looking fine. We’ve got a little bit of rain coming tonight and tomorrow and the smoke haze dissipating,” he said.”Unfortunately, at this point though, they are forecasting the smoke haze returns on Saturday where we’re racing at Flemington and Camperdown.”
Interestingly, a quirk of equine physiology supplies Thoroughbreds with the ability to run long after their blood oxygen supply has been depleted. If a human were to attempt this feat, unconsciousness would be the best possible outcome.
We are not advocating for racing horses through the smoke, but they are the one animal that is adapted properly.
Bloodworth indicated that the entire racing situation is in a state of flux.
“It’s probably a little bit too early to make any firm decisions on that now,” he said.
Abandoning meetings entirely or shifting them around is pure havoc for racing. Hundreds of horses missing runs, while no worry in the frame of the larger picture, puts pressure on the tight racing calendar.
There are only so many days in the week and one upcoming schedule conflict involves a fundraising cricket match of the National Jockeys’ Trust.
Flemington has nine races scheduled for Saturday, including a benchmark 84 eighth race dubbed the Thank You Firefighters. The final race on the day has been renamed the Thank You Volunteers.