Rain puts paid to Doomben gallops meeting

Southeast Queensland’s big wet has thrown racing schedules into chaos with the major Doomben meeting one of several fixtures abandoned.

Doomben was scheduled to go ahead on a heavy track after a 6am inspection but more rain was predicted during the day.

Rain continued until 10.30am when stewards and course manager Jim Roberts again inspected the track.

“It is the worst type of rain because it is drizzle and doesn’t run off,” Roberts said.

“There is water on the track on the Nudgee Road side of the track and it is just unsafe.”

The Toowoomba meeting on Friday night was postponed due to high winds and will now be run on Monday with scratchings reinstated.

The Warwick meeting set down for Saturday was also abandoned after heavy rain.

The Gold Coast meeting was also called off after heavy rain left patches of water on the surface.

Gayndah, in the Burnett region, had a major promotion to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first Queensland Derby which was run there in 1868.

The meeting has been transferred to Sunday.

The Sunshine Coast meeting set down for Sunday is also in doubt after 200mm of rain in the past few days.

Ipswich was postponed from Wednesday and will now be run as a new program on Tuesday.

A Racing Queensland spokesperson said every effort would be made to make up for lost meetings.

“Unfortunately, we can’t control the weather but the industry can’t afford to lose prize money and turnover,” he said.