The Geelong Cup meeting, which has implications for the Melbourne Cup, was called off.
The meeting had initially halted after race 3, with race course marquees evacuated as strong winds up to 50km/h ripped through the course. The rail was visibly shaking in the strong winds after race 2.
The winner of the Geelong Cup receives automatic entry to the Melbourne Cup. The remainder of the meeting will now be run on Thursday.
“So talking with the emergency services … they’re saying that the current wind conditions are around 46 to 50 kilometres an hour with gusts of up to 76km/h coming through,” he said.
“And that wind activity is likely to continue till at least 5 o’clock. The problem is then, is that after 5 o’clock, they’re saying that it may die down, but they’re not 100% sure whether it will or it won’t.”
“There’s also a chance that the wind direction may alter a degree and bring a bit of wind from the south, which is actually even stronger. So we just don’t have a lot of surety to say we can wait for two hours and then it will die down. There is a chance, and a pretty high chance, that it may continue past that, which wouldn’t give us enough time to run the races in a safe condition.”
Racing Victoria said the remainder of the meeting will be run at Geelong on Thursday afternoon.
”Following consultation with the Geelong Racing Club, the Bureau of Meteorology and emergency services, RV made the decision to postpone races 4-9 on today’s program until tomorrow, Thursday, 23 October,” the statement said.
”The decision to postpone the meeting until the following day was made to allow the remaining Geelong Cup Day program to proceed safely with minimal disruption to the Spring Racing Carnival pattern of races given the importance of the Ladbrokes Geelong Cup (2400m) in offering a golden ticket into the Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 4.
The Roderick Insurance Brokers 3YO Geelong Classic (2200m) is also a key lead up to the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) in 10 days’ time.”
Race 1 will run at 2.25pm and the last at 5:30pm with the Geelong Cup run at 4.10pm.
But leading trainer Gavin Bedggood was not impressed.
”The forecast wasnt a surprise it had been predicted days ago why wasn’t the meeting delayed in the 1st place? Horses have had a long day and supposed to just butter up again tomorrow. I know it’s cup day but what about horse and human welfare a call should of been made,” he said on X.
POSTPONED: Following advice from emergency services, the remainder of today’s Geelong Cup Day meeting has been called off due to dangerous winds. pic.twitter.com/fmx38iW0o6
— Racing.com (@Racing) October 22, 2025
