Heavy rain forces Alexandra Park meeting to be postponed after one race

Meant To Be was a hot favourite for a race at Friday night's Alexandra Park meeting that has been postponed because of torrential rain. Photo / Race Images

For the second time in three weeks, Alexandra Park has had its Friday night meeting canned because of wet weather.

Only one race was run tonight before the remainder of the meeting was postponed because of track conditions caused by heavy rain in Auckland.

A large pool of water had developed on the inside of the track and crept into the passing lane, while rutting was starting to develop on the home bend from water flowing down the track because of the steep camber.

The rain also made visibility difficult in the first race that was taken out in all the way fashion by Words.

The rest of the meeting was postponed and will resume as a new meeting starting at 6.19pm on Saturday, with all final field and tote bets quickly refunded.

Horses who were scratched from the Friday meeting have the option to re-enter Saturday’s fields for what will be an eight-race card.

“There wasn’t a lot we could do because the rain was so heavy,” said Harness Racing New Zealand’s Matt Peden, who was at Alexandra Park.

“But speaking to John Denton [track expert] he is confident, if the weather plays its part, with a bit of work we will be good to go for tomorrow night.”


The second Friday to Saturday shift at Alexandra Park in three weeks will make for a big Saturday night for harness racing fans as the Group 1 meeting will race alongside a huge card at Menangle, outside Sydney, where trotting heroine Keayang Zahara will be the star of the show as she contests the $100,000 Macarthur Mile.

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.