The Sha Tin and Happy Valley racetracks have come through Super Typhoon Ragasa in good shape and officials are confident the Sha Tin turf will be ready to withstand this Sunday’s feature meeting.
Just days after two races were lost because of a waterlogged section of the track on the home turn, Sha Tin – like the rest of Hong Kong – was pummelled with wind and rain on Wednesday.
“There’s no issue with anything – horses no issues, stables no issues and training is open as normal this morning except for the trotting area in Penfold Park because we couldn’t check it in the dark last night,” Stephen Higgins, the Jockey Club’s head of race day operations, tracks and racing facilities, told the Post on Thursday morning.
“The turf track is ready to go and we’ve got trials at Happy Valley on Saturday and that’s all fine as well.”
The rail will be in the “C+3” position this Sunday, out 3 metres from last weekend, and Higgins is confident the section of the track near the 600m where two horses slipped last Sunday will hold up under anything near normal conditions.
