SOUTHERN Districts chief steward John Davidson has given the green light for the return of racing at Albury on Saturday after more jump outs were conducted on the revamped track.
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Mr Davidson witnessed first-hand about 30 horses work on the track on Tuesday after concerns were raised by jockeys about sections of the track a week ago.
Field sizes will be capped at 10 horses per race for the non-TAB meeting which will be restricted to five races subject to final acceptances.
“Today has been a step in a positive direction,” Mr Davidson said.
“There has been a lot of improvement in the last week and it is improving every day.
“The plan remains to run the championships on (March 19) and the cup on (March 24).
“But we've had to take steps to get there as you do when major works are done at any track.
“We obviously weren't happy with jump outs last week, but we are happy this week so we move forward to the next step. If everything goes well on Saturday it is onwards and upwards.”
Mr Davidson confirmed the main area of concern for stewards was around the 800-metre mark to the home turn.
Stewards took feedback from senior riders who took part in the jump outs, Nic Souquet, Brad Clark, Brad Vale and Amanda Masters.
Clark said the track had improved a lot.
“It's a massive improvement,” he said.
“They've eased up on the watering which has dried things out a bit.
“The back section of the track was really nice, but there is still a bit of unevenness about the 750-metre mark.
“The rail was moved out to get around that bit of the track.”
Albury hasn't raced since June last year with the track renovations, including major irrigation and drainage improvements on the entire racing surface, starting after one of the wettest springs on record.
A total of 68 nominations have been received for the five races scheduled on Saturday.
Final acceptances will be taken on Thursday.