Perfect for racing at Stony Creek on Friday

THE weather gods have turned on an absolutely perfect day for the Stony Creek Racing Club’s first race meeting of the year with a bumper holiday crowd rolling in and some instant local success on the track in Race 1.

But it was no sure thing, the weather and the day that is.

The 4 year old brown gelding, trained by Paul Worthington of Sale and owned by Raoul Roylance, formerly of Welshpool, telegraphed his form with a third at Traralgon on December 10 and raced away to a three-length win over Redskin Jimmy for another Sale trainer Troy Kilgower with The Parting Glass from Pakenham and Clydebank Robber in the first four.

But the day, the weather and the track was no certainty, according to club president John Schuijers after 65mm of rain fell last Tuesday on a day when parts of South Gippsland were absolutely slammed by a tropical low pressure system.

“Yeah, we weren’t sure what to expect and we got a few more mls on Wednesday. We haven’t had any drying conditions either, but the track looks good,” said Mr Schuijers.

“The weather is absolutely perfect as it has turned out and there’s a good crowd coming in. It’s really the ideal date for a race meeting between Christmas and New Year when there are plenty of people around looking for something to do.”

Among those filing in through the gate were party groups and families and it didn’t take the kids long to get their faces painted and to queue up for the pony rides and a wealth of other activities on course.

Border Leicester raced away to a similar margin in Race 2 with jockey Logan Bates delighted to get an easy position up front and rating his horse perfectly throughout, held a  good margin through the line.

Jockeys coming back to scale reported no clods being kicked up and rated the course in excellent condition.