Riccarton officials will watch their two jumping races on Saturday with "our hearts in our mouths" as the hope they have saved their iconic Grand National races next week.
The Canterbury Jockey Club managed to get enough starters for the $50,000 Sydenham Hurdles and $50,000 Koral Steeplechase on Saturday after initially fearing they would struggle to attract enough northern visitors.
There are few jumpers trained in the South Island now as the Grand National meeting is the only week of jumps racing south of Cook Strait so getting these races off the ground is almost entirely dependent on North Island horses.
Even the trainers of South Island horses who recently secured their jumping tickets were under-standably reluctant to tackle the jumping races at this week's carnival with no suitable lead-up races in the south, which would be needed for the rigours of Saturday's races on a heavy10 track.
CJC boss Tim Mills says getting the seven starters for the hurdle and five for the steeplechase this Saturday goes a long way towards ensuring the GN Hurdle (next Wednesday) and GN Steeplechase (Saturday week) go ahead.