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• CANCH.UTION OF LAST SATURDAY'S RACE MEET WAS A CERTAINTY FROM THURSDAY, SO ■. ■Why did the promoters wait until Saturday to inform the public?Gham focbg Pooit YMttf Bod weather aiaociated with hurricane Katrina caused the cancellation of last Saturday's Caymanas Pari: race meeting, highlight of which should have been the 15th miming of the prestigious Benaooand Hedges Cold Cup race.The decision to cancel the meet was taken by the promoter around 9 o’clock on Satur day morning following an inspection of the racing surfaceWith the last five races on last Wednesday s card having been abandoned because of torrential ram. it was somewhat predictable that Saturdays meet would have received the axe m new of the heavy showers which lashed the island throughout Thursday and the great er part of FndavAs a result, the racing surface, like some of our roads and gullies received a good old Fashioned battering It follows, therefore, that if the track was rn a bad state on Wednesday (eroded, breakaways evident), it was ten times worse on Thursday and Fnday. given the ferocity of the showers.Whh this in mind, it should have been pretty obvious to the promoting company chat Saturday's racing am even bigger outsider than SANDING. So why in heavens name did he promoter* wait until the eleventh hour to cancH the meet?I gather that the surface was sanded on Thursday, but the rain ‘soaked up” that job So more sand was put in place on Fnday One observer toJd me that the crack was muddy but raceworthy up to mid-day on Friday. The weather at this stage appeared to be losing much of its clout so the orocnotera kept tteir fingers crossed and elected to wan until Satur day morning.However things did not work out as expected Nobody was buying the Raring Pools and morever the prospects for the customary bumper crowd associated with Gold Cup Day appeared quite dim. So the decision to call off the meet was inevitableHad it been made about 24 hours earlier, it would have saved some punters a lot of trouble not to mention hard earned cash to buy form booksMeanwhile, the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup event has been rescheduled for this Saturday and is again Jilted as the seventh race on the Pooh programme* And those punters who happened to purchase the Pools will just have to wait until Friday when they can exchange their old coupons for one of equivalent value from the agent where the coupon was handed in.This Saturday's game has attracted larger than usual fidds: the second race carries the maximum 25 nominees while the eighth and final carries only two nominees les*One of the more interesting races on the programme is the sixth, in which 15 'O’ class campaigners are nominated to run over a distance of 6 1/2 furlongs. Recent winners slated arc Chief Prince, Majority Rule* Special Secret. Montreal and Eureka. However, the likes of Phase Splitter, Shooting Star, Taj, Greek Heritage and Marching Fairy should ensure that it is one hefl-of-a-raoeMy choice for the Gold Cup still remains Regal And Bold, despite deafeninc sounds regarding another American bred IilTy Gravel Gertie.
Newspaper Details
Kingston Gleaner
Kingston, Kingston, JM
Tue, Nov 10, 1981
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
George C.
FL, USA 02 Apr 2024
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