Eagle Farm Inundated with Waller Doubts

The track has been idle since March 25.

“I’m hoping that the Eagle Farm track is up to standard because there looked some serious concerns prior to them giving Eagle Farm a break,” Waller told reporters.

Waller’s concern is about the Group 1s Stradbroke Handicap and JJ Atkins on June 6.

Two months and then some seem like an adequate amount of recovery time, even if the last period took two years on top of the years it took beginning in 2014 to get the redo right.

This weekend’s racing would have featured Doomben with the 2000-metre weight-for-age Group 1 Doomben Cup, but Racing Queensland scrapped the race.

Group 1 racing is on at Morphettville in South Australia, where punters can test their skill on the Group 1 Goodwood (1200 m, open, set weights plus penalties).

The current favourite in the field of 15 is Gytrash for $3.50 with SportsBetting. Since venturing out of South Australia and moving up in grade, Gytrash has won a couple minor races at Flemington. He has won the Group 1 Lightning at Flemington, backing that win with a third in the Group 1 Newmarket at the same track. Back in SA, he most recently won the Group 3 R N Irwin, slaughtering Sunlight by three lengths.

Gytrash’s primary competition will come from Santa Ana Lane and Trekking.

Morphettville will also offer four Group 3 races and this weekend marks the last Group level racing in SA for the current season.

The Group 3 races are the RA Lee Stakes, the National Stakes, the Proud Miss Stakes and the SA Oaks.

Morphettville currently carries a Soft 5 rating, which might not be acceptable to Waller, as he is field only Girl Tuesday in the sixth race. She is a $3 favourite for reasons we cannot fathom, as she has never won a Group race.

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