Cranbourne Cup meeting blown away

The Cranbourne Cup meeting has been called off after one race as strong winds battered the course raising safety concerns.

The riders took their horses to the barriers for the second race but brought them back as the winds gained strength.

Racing Victoria racing operations manager Paul Bloodworth.said the barriers were moving because of the wind.

“There were issues with the barriers actually raising off the ground due to the wind,” Bloodworth told racing.com.

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Bloodworth said the option to run the meeting under lights when the wind was expected to abate was quickly dismissed.

“We did discuss the option of waiting until later tonight but stewards and the vets raised issues with welfare of horses having to wait around for another five hours,” he said.

“We’ll have a meeting tomorrow with clear heads. The reality of the situation is around running a 2000 metre Listed race in close proximity when we’ve got the Moe Cup on Tuesday and the Coongy Handicap on Saturday.”

He said they officials would discuss rescheduling the $300,000 Cranbourne Cup (2000m) and $100,000 Apache Cat Classic (1000m).

Winds of more than 100km have affected towns across Victoria with around 13,000 homes without power.