Ellerslie’s new StrathAyr surface passed fit, safe for Manco Easter meeting

Mahrajaan and Sam Weatherley power to victory in the Group 2 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup at Ellerslie. Photo / Race Images

Leading jockey Craig Grylls says Ellerslie’s new StrathAyr surface is ready to go for Saturday’s Manco Easter meeting.

The new track had to pass return-to-racing protocols after the meeting there last Wednesday was abandoned after three races when a horse slipped just after the crossing heading out of the straight.

It was the second time there had been questions raised about the racing surface being slippery since the new StrathyAyr track was opened in January.

The first was on Karaka Millions night when rain on the day saw a handful of horses slip but the meeting was completed without incident.

StrathAyr experts were flown in from Australia on Thursday and advised the track needed to be hollow-cored to break up the top layer while 90 tonnes of sand was added - and the work appears to have paid off.

Eight trials were held at Ellerslie on Monday morning as part of those return-to-racing protocols and the track has been passed fit and safe to race for Saturday’s meeting, which contains three black type races.

Grylls, who is having the best season of his career, says yesterday’s surface was the best version of the new track he has ridden on yet.

“It definitely feels better and the horses were getting their toe into it more,” he told the Herald. “When I have ridden there since the new track came in they haven’t been marking it much and racing on top of the track.

“But it feels like the hollow coring has helped. Even going down in the preliminary for my first ride today [Monday] I could feel my horse getting its toe in more.

“It is definitely better and I don’t see any issues with racing there on Saturday.”

Auckland Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Paul Wilcox breathed a sigh of relief at the track passing its trials test and getting the approval of the jockeys, especially after showers hit just before the trials.

“Last week was really tough and we apologise to the industry participants because we know how much getting this track right means to them,” says Wilcox.

“We are still learning and it appears the hollow-coring has helped break up that matted top level which has been identified as the problem.

“The jockeys I spoke to today described it as the horses getting more purchase and everybody was happy with it today.”

Grylls says the sand added to the track did not cause any major kickback issues.

“It is not really that much different from Te Rapa, which has quite a bit of sand on it but has been racing really well,” says Grylls.

Saturday’s meeting is Ellerslie’s second-last fixture before it enters a winter hiatus, with one more meeting on May 25.

While race meetings at this stage of the season can suffer from punter fatigue, Ellerslie will have plenty of atmosphere on Saturday with 1000 Auckland University students attending a huge social/racing day.

And the TAB/Entain business will be entertaining punters in the refurbished Winning Post bar after the last race through until Kiwi rep Waitak races in the A$5 million Quokka slot race in Perth on Saturday night.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.