That means the Ellerslie track was verti-drained on Monday to break up the top surface and let the rain that followed drain straight through it.
By breaking up the top, it also all but eliminates the risk of the track becoming hard on top, then slippery if it rains.
“We take that risk away but it means if the rain continued all the way through after verti-draining, the top would break up a bit more and you would get a genuinely softer surface,” Fulford said.
“But for it to be walking a Soft 6 this afternoon, I am very confident, if the forecast is right, we will get it back to a Soft 5 by Saturday morning.
“The wind is getting up and that is crucial as it dries the track out so quickly and all she will need is a bit of sun and it will be close to perfect.
Fulford said as long as the region doesn’t get any significant rain on Saturday, “we could even be looking at an upgrade to a Good 4 before or during the meeting”.
“But of course rain on the day changes things.”
The rail returns to the true for the entire 1876m circuit, with Fulford saying it will be back to its natural shape on the home bend.
“We sometimes have that rail out to make the bend a bit rounder but we have put it right back to where it was designed to be and that means there will be some new ground on part of that bend.
“You can find because that makes the bend almost race a bit tighter, some horses will swing wider coming off it into the straight.”
Ellerslie has limited general admission sales available, with all hospitality sold out for the meeting, which hosts an after-party once the $4,590,000 worth of races are decided.
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.
