ALBURY Racing Club's major gamble to have a $1.2 million track upgrade completed by the Gold Cup meeting has paid off.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But only just with the cup meeting to go ahead with a dual track rating issued by Southern Districts Racing Association chief steward John Davidson who walked the entire course with track staff member Ash Hockin on Thursday.
The section between the 1700m to the 700m where new turf has been laid, but no drainage installed yet, has been rated a heavy nine.
The remainder of the track to the winning post and beyond including the home straight where drainage has been installed has come up a soft five.
Almost 80mm of rain has fallen at the track since the country championships meeting last Sunday.
Mr Davidson said works undertaken since last year had saved the meeting.
"It's not ideal to have a dual rating, but it is what it is after nearly 80mm of rain in two and a half days," he said.
"We'’re basically operating with two tracks.
"One part of the track has drainage and the other part hasn't.
"If this had of been 12 months ago I would have called them off on Wednesday.
"We wouldn't even be considering racing."
Work to complete the drainage installation on the back section of the track is expected to start immediately after the Gold Cup.
"They ran out of time to have it all ready," Mr Davidson said.
The rail for cup day is out a further two metres between the 800m to the 500m compared to last Sunday.
Field sizes for the shorter distance races including the Flat Knacker and City Handicap were reduced by one.
The cup was raced on a heavy 10 track last year.
Meanwhile, a full field of 16 is expected to contest the cup after only eight started last year.
The pre-race favourite, according to CrownBet, is the Darren Weir-trained Goldstream at 5.00 slightly ahead of Canberra Cup runner-up Cool Chap at 6.00.
Goulburn visitor Green Sweet at 7.00 is the only other horse under double figure odds.