The Brisbane Racing Club has received permission to swap two mid-week meetings from Doomben to Eagle Farm in return for two Saturdays in the coming weeks to ensure the best racing surfaces for the up-coming TAB Queensland Racing Carnival.
Two mid-week meetings will be transferred from Doomben to Eagle Farm (Wednesday, March 25 and Monday, April 13), while two Saturday meetings will go from Eagle Farm to Doomben (Saturday, March 28 and Saturday, April 11).
Eagle Farm will race this Saturday where the rail will be out nine metres.
This will help to avoid the wear the track experienced on Saturday, March 7 when there was more scuffing than usual due to the recent prolonged period of rain and humidity.
“The scuffing was a result of the leaf tissue being weakened by weather related disease – the profile and root health of the track remains in great shape,” senior track specialist Mick Goodie said.
“We have treated that and decided to give the inside of the track a rest to ensure we’re in the best shape for the Brisbane Racing Carnival. We will continue to move the rail out for the following Wednesday meeting to spread the wear across the surface before returning on Saturday April 4.”
Eagle Farm met all Monteith Report benchmarks in its first full year of racing with 25 meetings and is currently into the second year where 30 meetings will be run per the maximum recommendation.
During that time, Eagle Farm proved its reputation as an outstanding draining track, racing on a Good 4 surface on January 18 after 140mm of rain in the week leading up to the meeting including 65mm on the night before.
“We’ve followed the recommendations in the Monteith Report and there is a heavy emphasis on its workload in the early years.” BRC General Manager – Racing, Matt Rudolph said.
“We’re in the fortunate position where we can take a conservative approach and share the workload across both tracks.”
Both Doomben and Eagle Farm will have a three-week break leading into carnival where the BRC will race with the rail in the true position for TAB Doomben 10,000 Day and Moet & Chandon Derby Day.