Racing and Wagering WA chief steward Brad Lewis defends timing of Belmont Park postponement

Racing and Wagering WA chief steward Brad Lewis has defended his late decision to postpone Saturday’s Belmont Park meeting, saying two downpours of rain in the morning led to the track being unsafe for racing.

A number of trainers criticised the timing of the decision to call off the meeting about 20 minutes before the first race.

Some trainers had travelled to Belmont from as far as Albany and Kalgoorlie.

The track passed inspections at 7am and 11am, but further rain left some sections waterlogged.

“We had to give it a go when it was initially safe for racing,” Lewis said.

“We had 8mm of rain between the first two inspections and then another 12mm after that.

“The track just couldn’t cope with it, so we had to make the call unfortunately.

“The lightning would have interfered with the meeting too, so there were a few issues there.”

Seven of Saturday’s nine races, including the Listed HG Bolton Sprint (1200m), have been added to Wednesday’s Belmont meeting.

Four races have been shifted from Wednesday to Thursday’s Northam meeting to accomodate for the move.

RWWA also considered holding the entire Saturday meeting on Monday, but decided to give the track more time to recover.

“It will improve with clearing weather over the next few days,” Lewis said.

“Brock Neeling (Perth Racing track manager) thinks the track will still be in soft range on Wednesday.

“The rail will be out 18m from the 1000 to the 400 and 15m for the remainer, with a cutaway in the straight.”