Flemington track manager Liam O’Keeffe had his team working until 1am following the Cox Plate as storms approached in a bid to ensure the celebrated surface was ready for he is primed for the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
O’Keeffe has the added pressure this year of hosting the Cox Plate a week before the Carnival, meaning he has five meetings to prepare for in 14 days.
As the Cox Plate meeting ended, storms approached Melbourne, with more than 50mm falling the next day at Flemington.
O’Keeffe told Betsy his team worked into the night – after working throughout race day – to ensure all track remediation work was completed and the track was ready for the rain.
‘’It’s pulled up really well. And that rainfall on Sunday, we had 53mm in total, and it coped that really well. It presents on the better side of soft now,’’ he said.
‘’We wanted to make sure that all of our Sunday jobs were brought forward to Saturday night to ensure that we could get everything we needed to get done before Monday.
‘’Just knowing that Sunday was going to be a complete wipeout. Massive day from the team, and it sets us up really well for Derby Day.’’
The rail will remain in the true position for Derby Day – but O’Keeffe again faces a battle with the weather.
With warm conditions predicted for Friday, water will be applied to the track on Friday.
But another round of potentially wet weather could hit Melbourne on Saturday.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast remains uncertain, predicting anywhere from 3 to 20mm for Derby Day.
‘’So with that rainfall [on Sunday], it’s allowed us to not have to irrigate earlier in the week. We shouldn’t have to irrigate until probably Thursday,’’ he said.
‘’The weather warms up to 24 Friday, but then there are some showers predicted on Saturday. We’ll monitor that as the week goes on.
‘’We’ll mow the track again today, fertilise this afternoon, and then give it a final mow on Friday. We’ll also determine any irrigation based on Saturday’s forecast.’’
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O’Keeffe said the warm, humid weather systems are the hardest for his team to navigate.
‘’It’s tricky when you get those humid type conditions because what can happen is you can basically get no rainfall, but a little bit of drying, and then … you can get a storm come through,’’ he said.
‘’[We are] very mobile with having different plans in place for what weather events can happen.
‘’With the showers forecast for Saturday, we’re still five days out, so hopefully that can change around and lighten off a bit, and we can just irrigate with confidence knowing it’s not going to rain.’’
While it is 7 days away at time of talking to Betsy, O’Keeffe said early indications are Cup Day should be relatively dry.
‘’Looks okay. About 19 to 20 degrees, overcast, no rain, fortunately. Given we’re still a week out, that’ll change around a little bit,’’ he said.
‘’At this stage, it looks okay.’’
