Racing: Weather stops races

Excess surface water ruled out the final Rotorua race meeting of the season at Arawa Park yesterday.

The call was made to abandon the meeting after stipendiary steward John Oatham and Racing Rotorua Club officials completed a track inspection and found surface water on areas of the track as a result of continuous rain that had fallen during the morning.

In consultation with the officials, Oatham advised that with the forecast for further rain throughout the day and in the interests of safety it was wise to abandon the meeting at 9am rather than wait until the first race at 12.53pm.

The Rotorua track had been described as a heavy 11 at 6am yesterday after 12mls of rain overnight.

The abandonment also cut short the farewell to local racing identity John Humphries, who is retiring as a starter at the end of the season. Humphries' final meeting in his long-held role will be at Te Rapa on July 28.