The Hawke’s Bay meeting was abandoned yesterday at around 6.20am.

The track was inspected on Wednesday and found to be in safe condition for racing. The track was a Heavy10 prior to the 28mm of rain received.

Rainfall intensity exceeded forecasts with an inspection on Thursday morning showing surface water at varying parts of the track between the 1400m and 800m. Following this the meeting was abandoned for reasons of safety. There was some further rain predicted.

The meeting was unable to be re-scheduled for the following day (Friday) as it couldn’t be serviced by Entain NZ. With three CD meetings in four days  in the week starting Monday 22 July it has been decided not to reschedule. NZTR are open to dividing races at both Awapuni on Thursday and Otaki on Saturday. With potentially four jump races at Waverley it is unlikely that there will be divisions.

Any abandonment is frustrating for all participants and costly to the industry however horse and rider safety cannot be compromised. An early call did mitigate both disruption and costs to the Industry.