Too Hot to Trot or Gallop.
I/we were greatly looking forward to the Scone Race Club’s special meeting on Sunday 19 March 2023: the Newhaven Park Northern Wildcard Race Day
We received the following email on Sat 18/03/2023 6:06 PM from the Events Manager of Scone Race Club:
Sunday’s Race Day Postponed
“Unfortunately, tomorrow’s race day has been postponed due to the high temperatures predicted.
We apologies for this as we were all looking forward to a wonderful day of racing”.
SCONERACECLUB.COM.AU
Although disappointed I’d been expecting it. The BOM forecast for the daily maximum was 39 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoon. A fierce hot weather ‘storm’ had descended over and enveloped most of NSW as predicted. The prospect was dire for the scheduled meeting at our Satur racetrack. The prescient decision by the racing authorities to make an early call proved to be correct. The meeting was postponed for 24 hours with the identical program to be run on Monday 20th March 2023. I went out to the track @ 4:00pm on Sunday (19/03/23). It was stiflingly hot. The temperature gauge in my car was hovering between 39 & 40 degrees Celsius. I was the only person there although my little JR terrier Joe was struggling. 100+ migratory swallows were making best use of the open-ended corridor in the public viewing facility, flitting around in the only cool shade with a slight zephyr which helped. They were joined by a small number of percipient Willie Wagtails doing the same thing. They were the only living creatures present.
It’s a ‘mild’ 22 degrees @ 08:30am (20/03/23) as I write this with a projected maximum of 28 degrees. The prospects for the meeting are good albeit at the cost of severe revenue reduction to the SRC. The show goes on!
Racing NSW Policies – Racing New South Wales
Click on ‘Racing in Hot Weather
Approved and Endorsed by Racing NSW Board – December 2018 RACING NSW RACING IN HOT WEATHER – OFFICIAL POLICY HORSES AND RIDERS
This policy is in place to protect the welfare of and minimize the effects on race participants during hot summer days at all New South Wales race tracks. Further information on workplace health and safety in hot weather is available on the following websites:
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/factsheets/environmental/heat_stroke.html December 2018
See also: Heat stress in the horse (ava.com.au)
See also: Should horse races be permitted in very hot weather? – RSPCA Knowledgebase
Monday 20th March 2023 @ 7:49am:
The Scone Race Club would like to thank everyone for supporting the decision to move the Newhaven Park Country Championships Northern Wildcard to today.
The horse’s welfare was at the front of mind in making the decision when Racing NSW and the club came to the decision.
The details for today’s rescheduled meeting are as follows:
Gates open: 12 noon
First Race: 1.25pm
Newhaven Park Country Championships Northern Wildcard Race: 5.10pm
If you have the day off work our would like to come over after you have finished, there will be full bar, catering and TAB facilities available.
You can also click on the link below for the full form and tips for today’s meeting.
Look forward to seeing you on track later today.
https://www.racingnsw.com.au/news/country-news/neil-evans-tips-for-scone-monday-19/