Castles said the jockeys hadn't expressed any concerns until they got to the HB Guineas (race 5).
"Mark Du Plessis clearly slipped quite badly after the post in the Hawke's Bay Guineas," he said.
After that, Castles said, a track inspection was conducted and the jockeys felt remediation was a possibility so a ground hog was employed through the track before it was re-inspected.
"Ultimately the jockeys weren't comfortable about continuing so the meeting was abandoned."
He quashed any suggestions of too much irrigation in the week, akin to what happened during the second leg of the spring carnival, the Windsor Park Plate in 2015, when the meeting was abandoned amid hue and cry from some quarters.
Melbourne Cup-winning Graeme Rogerson, a trainer, owner and breeder of Tuhikaramea, was critical of the decision to call off the meeting and felt a ground hog should have been used much earlier in 2015.
However, Castles said everything had been done according to the official procedures today.
"The last irrigation was on Tuesday [10ml], five on Wednesday morning it was a dead 4 and on Friday morning it firmed a bit more to a good 3."
He said under the regulations of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) track preparation policy a good 3 is what clubs should aspire to on race days.
"The weather gods have just conspired against us," he said, echoing the sentiments of Taranaki trainer Allan Sharrock who had just phoned him to sympathise with his plight.
"The mother got you, he said, and Allan was talking about Mother Nature."
He said the forecast was for late rain but it had started, albeit persistently with 0.8mm before the first race, Bay Ford NZ Punter of the Year 2200, at 12.37pm to 2.5mm in total.
"I'm very comfortable that everything that was done was possibly done to mitigate risks around rain coming to this race meeting.
"Look the livelihood of the jockeys and the safety of the horses is the most important thing."
The stipendiary stewards, after following the proper processes, made the decision to pull the plug on the remaining races.
"I have no axe to grind with that decision whatsoever."
He had "huge amount" of sympathy for the industry play makers.
"Some of those horses who were running in $40,000 races probably only get that chance once or twice in a year so there's a huge amount of sympathy for the trainers and owners."
Castles said the jockeys had an opportune time to ride for good money today but had put their livelihood ahead of boosting their incomes.
"We feel gutted for everyone involved but Hawke's Bay Racing has also suffered a huge financial blow today as well, which is something not great for us at all," he said, loath to produce a figure until his staff had crunched some numbers.
Relocating the Livamol Classic, he said, in the next 48 hours would help ease that fiscal pain.
"We're not going to be racing here in the next 48 hours because there won't be that opportunity to and it'll also not be the right answer so we'll sit down and talk to the connections in the group one race to see what possibilities may exist sometime in the next two-week period when the race can be won."
Castles felt sad for the racegoers at a time when Hawke's Bay Racing had made record bookings.
"Most of those people have enjoyed themselves up to the point after race 5 but the reality is I'm very comfortable that what could be done was done to mitigate the risks of this happening.
"Sometimes you just get beaten by the mother and Mother Nature got us today," he said.
