Turf Club battles Mother Nature

Ipswich Turf Club groundsman Sean Tou uses a ride-on mower to maintain the Bundamba track. The ground was too waterlogged to support the weight of a tractor yesterday.

Claudia Baxter

WET weather is giving Ipswich Turf Club bosses a checked run ahead of a big day tomorrow.

General manager Brett Kitching remains confident of getting the jump on Mother Nature despite more than five inches of rain falling at the Bundamba track since Monday afternoon.

Mr Kitching said the club was preparing for its biggest day of the new racing year with hundreds of people tipped to turn out for the eight-race meet.

“We had five inches of rain on Monday night. We had a lot of rain in November 2008, but Monday was in a shorter period,” he said.

“Just to put it in perspective, Doomben only had an inch of rain in the days leading up to (yesterday’s) racing.”

Mr Kitching said stewards would inspect the track today before making a recommendation based on surface water and the ability to get the starting barrier on and off the track safety.

“If there’s still doubt we will have another inspection about 6am Friday,” he said as 10 ground staff worked on the track.

“Theoretically you can go right up until the time of the first race and then decide to abandon racing, but we often have trainers travelling from Grafton and Rockhampton so we like to make a decision as early as possible.

“We’ve got two functions booked for Friday so we’d be pretty keen to see racing go ahead.

“We get regular compensation from Queensland Racing which comes from the TAB betting on our racing, but if we don’t race we just miss out on the bar and function takings.”

Mr Kitching said the wet weather wasn’t all bad news for punters, with heavy tracks often producing surprise results.

“On a wet day you’d get pretty excited about a roughie,” he said.

“You could realistically back a horse that has finished last in its last three starts at Ipswich and come up with a winner.”

RAINFALL

Statistics for this week: Amberley 102mm, Brassall 153mm, Bundamba 92mm, Churchill 132mm, Colleges Crossing 113mm, Esk 94mm, Fernvale 75mm, Harrisville 96mm, Kalbar 143mm, Karalee 98mm, Lowood 93mm, Marburg 96mm, One Mile 136mm, Rosewood 98mm, Toogoolawah 53mm, Walloon 97mm, Wivenhoe Dam 42mm.