Geelong Cup gone with the wind, moved to Thursday
Severe weather conditions have forced the Geelong Cup and five other races to be moved to Thursday.
Club officials and stewards took advice from emergency services and weather authorities at around 3pm, after dangerous gusts of winds hit the area.
“Talking with the emergency services, they’re actually based on course and a weather station in the centre, which gives us some pretty good data, they are saying that the current wind conditions are around 46 to 50 kilometres an hour, with gusts of up to 76 coming through, and that wind activity is likely to continue till at least five o’clock,” Racing Victoria steward Corie Waller said.
“The problem is that after five o’clock, they’re saying that it may die down, but they’re not 100 per cent sure whether it will or it won’t. There’s also a chance that the wind direction may alter to a degree and bring a bit of wind from the south, which is actually even stronger.”
“So we just don’t have a lot of surety to say we can wait for two hours and then it will die down. There is a chance and a pretty high chance that it may continue past that, which wouldn’t give us enough time to run the races in a safe condition.”
Racing was suspended after the third race as stewards waited for the weather to abate.
Races four to nine on the card, including the Geelong Cup, a key lead-up to the Melbourne Cup, will now be run on Thursday.
The Geelong Racing Club has confirmed free admission for Thursday’s meeting.
Scratchings will be reinstated for the remainder of the postponed Geelong Cup Day program with new race times as follows:
- Race 1 Geelong Caravanning Leisurefest BM66 Handicap – 2.25pm
- Race 2 Roderick Insurance Brokers 3YO Geelong Classic – 3.00pm
- Race 3 Lindsey Smith Spicer T’Breds BM70 Handicap – 3.35pm
- Race 4 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup – 4.10pm
- Race 5 Rex Gorell Volkswagen Dual Choice Plate – 4.50pm
- Race 6 The Sporting Globe Last Call BM78 Hcp (MCC Series Heat) – 5.30pm
