MURRUMBIDGEE Turf Club track manager Mark Hart has one of the toughest gigs this week but he's trying not to worry too much about the weather forecast.
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Rain is forecast for most of this week with anywhere from 35 millimetres to 70 predicted to hit Wagga between Tuesday and Friday.
Hart believes he has the track in the best shape it's been in but understands everything is in the lap of the Gods.
"The track's magnificent at the moment," Hart said.
"It's going to be a shame. It's going into the week as good as I've had it, I reckon. The good thing about it is there is a lot of grass on it, which will help. It will take the rain, plus because of the cover, it will help it hold together a bit."
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Hart believes the track's drainage system has the capacity to handle large portions of rain, as shown by last year's Gold Cup day when it handled 30mm of rain overnight.
But it is the prospect of rain throughout the race day that concerns Hart. The track was rated a soft five on Monday after 7.5mm on Sunday.
"I'm just worried for that forecast on Thursday, really, he said.
"I'm not worried about the 20 or 30 mil on Wednesday, it will take the rain, it's the showers during the day on Thursday that worries me. But what will be, will be, I suppose.
"All I've done is kept it as dry as I can. That's how I've approached it the last 13 years, even though now we've got the advantage of having drainage, I'm always trying from March 1, trying to keep the track as dry as I can for this scenario."
