Hot weather affects WA race meetings
A range of race meetings in Perth and regional Western Australia have been cancelled or postponed due to hot weather in the week ahead.
Racing WA Chief Racing Officer David Hunter said Narrogin, Ascot and Esperance race days had all been affected.
“As the temperature climbs again this week, we have made the decision to abandon and reschedule several race days to safeguard welfare,” David said.
“Racing WA’s heat policies are activated if the forecast maximum is 35°C or higher during a scheduled race meeting, when practises to alleviate the heat come into play. At 38°C the options turn towards changes to venues and times.
“When temperatures are as high as the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting for parts of the state this week, the decision to shift or cancel the meeting becomes clear.”
Tomorrow’s race meeting at Narrogin has been abandoned due to the forecast of 40°C and has not been rescheduled.
The Esperance forecast of 39°C on Friday has resulted in the decision to postpone the race meeting to Monday, February 19, when conditions are expected to be milder.
The Magic Millions race day at Pinjarra Park on Saturday is going ahead as planned, with an expected temperature of 37°C. Racing WA will continue to monitor the forecast and consider altering race times and reducing the number of races if the predicted heat increases.
The Sunday race meeting at Ascot Racecourse has been abandoned due to the forecast increasing to 42°C, with the high temperature prevailing until late into the afternoon.
The option of transferring to the following day was ruled out by Bureau of Meteorology advice that the extreme temperatures will endure into Monday.
The scheduled Albany meeting for Saturday has been postponed to Sunday to provide a race meeting on that day.
The midweek metropolitan meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 21, has been transferred from Belmont Park to Ascot. It will include the listed Challenge Stakes and further races will be added to this race program to form a 12-race card.
In harness racing, the Pinjarra meeting for Monday, February 19, has been transferred to Wednesday. Pinjarra trials scheduled for Wednesday will in turn move to Thursday.