Increased verti draining is breaking up the surface tension and has allowed horses at recent jumpout and trials to get their hooves into the ground more, creating extra grip and cushion.
Jockeys spoken to be the Herald last week were happy with the track and invited experts, like Flemington track manager Liam O’Keeffe, are confident the extra preparatory work will provide a more consistent and forgiving surface.
That will be crucial as this Saturday’s meeting is the start of the biggest season in the track’s history, with not only the return of the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day meetings, as extended and upgraded Karaka Millions meeting but also the enormous $9 milion Champions Day on March 8.
That will feature the new $3.5m NZB Kiwi on what promises to be the deepest raceday in New Zealand racing history.
So to say the spotlight will be on Ellerslie this season might be considered a decent-sized understatement.
It looks set to start as it means to continue with Orchestral likely to return in the open 1400m on Saturday rather than race in the Arrowfield Stud Plate at Hastings a week later.
The latter is a Group 1 but would mean a stern 1600m test fresh up for Orchestral and some taxing travel to Hastings and back, with trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood also aware Hastings can be unforgiving on horses who get back, as Orchestral would probably do over 1600m.
So the Cambridge trainers are warming to the 1400m this Saturday, which would almost certainly rule out not only the Arrowfield Plate but make it hard to plot a path to the Livamol Classic back at Hastings on October 12, her trainers unlikely to step her straight up from 1400m to 2040m.
If Orchestral returns to Ellerslie this Saturday she won’t be short of talented opposition as last season’s Zabeel Classic winner Campionessa is also likely to be at the comeback meeting after she missed Sunday’s Te Rapa meeting because of the heavy track.
If Orchestral accepts for Saturday, almost certainly signalling no Hastings for her, that will see further change to the Arrrowfield Stud Plate market, which has already lost Tarzino Trophy winner Grail Seeker.
Trainer Allan Sharrock has already suggested both Islington Lass and Justaskme will miss the Arrowfield and if the fine weather forecast for the Hawke’s Bay is correct then it would become highly unlikely Mustang Valley starts in the Arrowfield, as she would prefer a wet track.
She missed a crucial race at New Plymouth on Saturday when five races were abandoned because of poor visibility and will trial at Rotorua on Thursday, those trials put back from the scheduled date today.
Ladies Man was in that same abandoned race at New Plymouth on Saturday and trainer Sharrock admits he is now losing the battle to have him fit enough to defend his Livamol title.
“I don’t think I can get enough miles into his legs so I doubt we will be there and I’d say I will set him for the weight-for-age race at Ellerslie on Melbourne Cup day,” says Sharrock.
One way or another the markets for the last two Group 1 legs of the Hawke’s Bay Triple Crown look set to move a lot in coming days without a race being run.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s racing editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
