Racehorse Marden will not race until 6.15pm after stewards decided to put all races back two hours at Rosehill today in an attempt to counter the heat wave. Picture: Rohan Kelly Source: The Daily Telegraph
RACING NSW stewards last night made the decision to shift back today's race meeting at Rosehill Gardens to counter the expected heat wave in Sydney.
With temperatures set to reach well beyond 40 degrees in the western suburbs, officials scrambled to ensure the meeting could go ahead with the safety of horses and jockeys paramount.
The first race will now start at 2.55pm with the last at 7.20pm.
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Original forecasts suggested a high of 37 but a late change by the bureau yesterday afternoon upped the expected temperature to 43 in the Parramatta area.
"The reason we moved the meeting back and not forward is because there is a cooler change expected to come through with southwesterly winds at around 3pm," said Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy.
"Fingers crossed it comes at that time and cools everything down a little because it is still going to be a difficult afternoon.
"We've got to ensure the safety of all participants and with the information provided at hand we decided to push back the meeting by close to two hours."
Australian Turf Club chief executive Darren Pearce was in full support of the change.
"With a cooler change expected mid-afternoon, we have delayed the start time of tomorrow's races in the hope that conditions will be more conducive to safer racing," Pearce said last night.
"The gates will still open at the advertised time; however patrons can arrive to the racecourse later than planned and not miss any of the racing action."
The provincial race meeting at Newcastle is set to go ahead as normal with temperatures to reach 35 degrees.
Rosehill delay to beat the heat
Brent Zerafa RACING NSW stewards have decided to shift back today's race meeting at Rosehill to counter the expected heat wave in Sydney.
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