Rain, incoming typhoon lead to cancellations in Hong Kong
Stormy weather that will become dangerous this week forced the Hong Kong Jockey Club to cancel the last two races Sunday at Sha Tin and Wednesday’s entire card at Happy Valley.
“In light of the approach of super typhoon Ragasa and the latest forecasts issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has decided that the Happy Valley race meeting scheduled for Wednesday will be canceled,” the HKJC said in a Sunday statement. “This decision has been made in the interest of public and equine safety and to support the operational needs of stakeholders across the racing industry.”
Heavy rain already fell Sunday at Sha Tin, where races 9 and 10 were called off after an inspection of the course.
“Due to the deterioration of the track under adverse weather conditions, and with the safety of the horses and horsemen as our top priority, the club has decided to abandon the last two races of the race meeting at Sha Tin,” the HKJC said a little more than an hour before it called off the Wednesday card.
One HKJC supervisor said the turn into the homestretch was the most soaked part of the course.
“We had about (5 1/2 inches) of rain since 3 a.m. this morning,” operations manager Stephen Higgins told reporters. “There’s just one area of the track that’s about two horse lengths long that’s causing us concern. It’s much softer than the rest of the track. It’s just on the apex of the band where the drain runs into the infield.
“We had a delegation of the stewards, ourself and three of our leading jockeys, champion jockey (Zac) Purton and Hugh Bowman and Alexis Badel. We all agreed that to ask them to gallop over that particular section would not be in the best interest in racing.”
Wind exceeding 135 mph has been forecast as soon as Monday. The typhoon is expected to intensify Tuesday before leaving Hong Kong sometime Wednesday. Remnant rain is forecast to last through the week.
Racing is scheduled to resume Saturday at Sha Tin.
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