There was no reshuffling of the Arrowfield because the entries weren’t reopened so the field is exactly the same except that Gospodin, who was scratched from Saturday, will now take his place.
That means the two emergencies, Lightning Jack and Australian visitor Rolls, are unlikely to get starts.
“It looks like the track at Matamata might have a bit more give in it so we will start now,” says Gospodin’s trainer, Jim Pender.
But while at face value the Arrowfield looks the same, the potential for rain to further soften Matamata and a vastly different starting position could change the Arrowfield outcome.
The Matamata track was rated a Soft 6 last night with rain forecast for Wednesday and Pender won’t be the only trainer hoping the rain arrives.
Perhaps just as important is the Matamata 1600m start point, which allows a huge run down the back straight of nearly 700m before the horses hit the one-and-only bend.
That is in contrast to the much-maligned 1600m start point at Hastings, which has a very short run to the first bend, so those who initially feared their wide draws will head to the races on Wednesday feeling they are in a fairer fight now.
One of the most obvious beneficiaries is Puntura, who loves big tracks and rolling forward and will now have the entire back straight to press forward for Craig Grylls, his chances of getting handy or even leading having improved.
Another trainer not upset by the unfortunate meeting transfer is Josh Shaw, who prepares talented mare Faraglioni.
She has drawn barrier 10 but is to start from eight if the emergencies don’t gain a start and Shaw is confident she can now get handy without the hustle and bustle she might have endured at Hastings.
“And there could be a bit more give in the track, which won’t do her chances any harm,” says Shaw.
“It might even help us get another run out of her this campaign.”
The TAB reacted to the potential tactical changes by shortening Malt Time and Puntura from their wide draws and slightly drifting favourite Skew Wiff to $4.40, even though she is now racing on her home track.
One winner already out of the transfer is premiership-winning jockey Warren Kennedy, who rides Mustang Valley in the Arrowfield and Captured By Love in the Guineas.
Kennedy was to have been suspended after Saturday’s meeting but because of the transfer and already being declared for his Group 1 ride, he is allowed to ride without extra days being added to the back end of his suspension.
While the Arrowfield moves to Matamata, just where the Group 1 Livamol on Saturday week will be held remains undecided.
The board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) was meeting last night to review a report on the Hastings abandonment and decide whether the track is fit to hold the Livamol meeting, Hawke’s Bay racing’s biggest day of the year.
There were 12 jumpouts conducted on the Hastings track on Monday, with senior jockeys reportedly happy with the surface, but whether NZTR is willing to risk a repeat abandonment, no matter how slim the chances, could be the deciding factor.
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.
