Magic show in Goodwood0:28
Horse Racing: Vega Magic has capped off a remarkable day across two states for training trio David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig with the former Perth sprinter delivering a knockout blow in the Goodwood at Morphettville.
Elegant Composure at Eagle Farm. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography
THE biggest piece of the form jigsaw this weekend will be how horses handle the Eagle Farm surface, which has had another 25 days of renovation since it was last seen in public.
Evergreen Turf, which built the track, has been enlisted to perform a maintenance program on the surface since March and are contracted to the end of the carnival.
Evergreen Turf chief executive Paul Mahoney, who inspected the track on Tuesday, expects Saturday’s surface to be similar to the one on Victory Stakes day, where the official rating was soft (7).
“Based on what I saw, I would expect there will be a little bit of chop up around the home turn, but I think it will race as good, if not better than it did on (Victory Stakes day),” he said.
Bjorn Baker on the new turf at Eagle Farm. Pictures: Jack TranSource:News Corp Australia
“There’s a lot more that needs to be done, but it’s now at a point where I think it will perform reasonably well.”
Eagle Farm hosts Group 1 races on four of the next five Saturdays.
Since the March 13 meeting, which has been described as “Black Monday”, there has been a program attempting to remove a “black layer” of organic matter which causes moisture to be held in the canopy of the track, rather than draining through the sand profile, but Mahoney said it will take some time to take full effect.
“There’s no magic piece of liquid we can put on it to drop the roots another 50mm, but certainly the signs are that it’s heading that way,” he said.
“In an ideal world we would do it fairly aggressively, but given the time frames involved and the lead-up to the carnival, we’ve had to be less aggressive.
“Decisions will be made as to how hard that renovation might get done post-carnival.
“I don’t think it is as extreme as ripping up the track. There’s some renovation practices that can be done to avoid that.”
Originally published as Farm seeks victory in battle for better track
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