Racing: Bad track outrages Coleman

Leading jockey Michael Coleman was not in a sympathetic mood towards officials of the Counties Racing Club after the abandonment of the meeting at Pukekohe Park yesterday.

Riders complained about unsafe footing near the 600m mark after the running of the first race.

"If this meeting was held in Australia this would never have happened, because the club wouldn't have got away with trying to hold a race meeting on an unsafe track," said the Matamata jockey.

"I don't know who should be held accountable for this disgraceful situation, but at the end of the day someone has to be responsible for this embarrassing situation for the Counties Racing Club, jockeys, trainers, owners, sponsors and the public.

"I don't know how anybody could have passed this track to be safe to ride on. It wasn't, which was obvious during the first race.

"It has been well publicised about the patch of the track near the 600-metre mark where there have been drainage problems making it dangerous to race on.

"All the jockeys cantered their horses over that patch in the preliminary before the first race and it didn't feel too soft, but we weren't going at full speed.

"There was only a seven-horse field, but as soon as we hit the 600m mark you could feel the ground drop by four to five inches.

"If your horse was caught on the wrong leg there was the potential for a fall, with horses injuring themselves and breaking down.

"The Counties Racing Club should refund all jockeys for their lost riding fees and cover all the petrol and travel costs for the trainers who travelled to the meeting.

"Nobody wanted this to happen to the club, but there must have been enough warning signs earlier in the week alerting it that the track was not fit to race on and they could have transferred the meeting.

"The only upside is that the Counties Cup will now be held after the final race of the Cambridge Jockey Club's meeting tomorrow (Sunday)."

A meeting scheduled at Pukekohe on October 26 was cancelled because of the unsafe nature of the racing surface there.

Pukekohe Park was passed fit for racing on Tuesday by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing inspectors.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY