BRC moves to protect tracks for winter

The Brisbane Racing Club has taken steps to ensure the best track surfaces for its winter carnival.

There was some extra wear at Eagle Farm two weeks ago when there was some noticeable kick-back.

The club has swapped two midweek meetings at Doomben to Eagle Farm in return for two Saturdays.

In a media release the BRC confirmed two midweek meetings will be transferred from Doomben to Eagle Farm (March 25, April 13) while two Saturday meetings will go from Eagle Farm to Doomben (March 28, April 11).

Eagle Farm is scheduled to race on Saturday with the rail out nine metres.

It will help avoid the wear the track experienced on March 7 when there was more scuffing than usual because of the recent prolonged period of rain and humidity.

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“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,” RQ 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 carnival.”

RQ officials are meeting on Monday to discuss contingency plans for spectator-free racing because of the coronavirus crisis.

Eagle Farm met all benchmarks in its first full year of racing since its major renovation 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 surface on January 18 after 140mm of rain in the week leading up to the meeting including 65mm the night before.

“We’re in the fortunate position where we can take a conservative approach and share the workload across both tracks,” BRC general manager, racing, Matt Rudolph, said.