Racing: Conditions improve for Magic Millions

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BRISBANE - Rain remains the biggest threat to the gala Magic Millions day proceeding at the Gold Coast tomorrow.

Stewards inspected the track for a second time yesterday morning and were amazed at the rapid recovery it was making.

They declared the track unsafe for racing after walking the waterlogged surface on Wednesday but did not assess whether it was raceable during their latest inspection.

Steward Norm Torpey, with Racing Queensland's track manager Warren Williams and Gold Coast course manager Steve Andrews, were surprised with the recovery the track had made in the past 24 hours.

"There's been significant improvement since yesterday and it's quite raceable apart from three sections.

"If it was a race meeting today I'd say we couldn't race," Torpey said.

Stewards are also monitoring whether horses being floated from Toowoomba and Sydney can find a way through floodwaters to the Gold Coast. The biggest problem for Sydney trainers Chris Waller, David Payne, Clarry Conners and Matthew Smith is to get the horses who left Sydney yesterday through the flooded city of Grafton in northern NSW.

Toowoomba transport company Higgins was investigating a possible route around swollen rivers and creeks between the Darling Downs city and the Gold Coast.

"It's pretty grim. The Toowoomba range is closed and we can't get down that way to Brisbane," owner Garry Higgins said.

"I've heard a whisper there might be a back road but it will add some time to the trip."

Trainer Tony Gollan was scheduled to do a test run yesterday by driving to the Gold Coast from his Toowoomba base before deciding whether to make the trip today with Temple Of Boom and Spirit Of Boom.

- AAP