The Group 1 $700,000 James Boag’s Premium Doomben 10000 (1200m) at Doomben on Saturday looks likely to be run on a rain affected surface after the track was rated a heavy 8 on Tuesday morning.
Favourite Russian Revolution, above, will have no trouble handling a wet track for the Doomben 10,000 at Doomben. Photo by Steve Hart.
Doomben received 9.5mm of rain on Monday night and after an early morning inspection track manager Jim Roberts put up the heavy sign.
“Yesterday they forecast one to two mil and all day yesterday was quite overcast and it drizzled the whole day on and off from early morning to late afternoon and then around eight o’clock last night we had a very heavy shower of rain,” Roberts told Sky Racing News.
“When I reported to the supervisor’s box this morning at five am, he told me we had just under ten millimetres.”
“That was unexpected and at this time of the year that is a fair drop of rain. I would say equal to Summer time you could probably say twenty to twenty-five mil.
“You get very heavy dews this time of the year. The track is basically dead most mornings so it doesn’t take much to send it back the other way.”
“I am going to go a heavy 8 with the track this morning. I have just had a walk of the front straight.”
“The weather at the moment is fine and I am really hoping it stays that way and there is a bit of a wind forecast today so that will be a big help to get the track back to where I would like to see it in an acceptable range.”
“The track should be okay, keep our fingers crossed.”
The track is certain to stay on the soft side for Saturday with more showers forecast for the remainder of the week.
The wet conditions won’t bother Ladbrokes’ early $3.30 favourite Russian Revolution who claimed his first Group 1 win on a heavy 10 rated track when he beat stablemate Redzel in the $700,000 Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill on March 18.
Redzel is also a noted wet tracker and goes into the Doomben 10,000 on the back of a last start win on a heavy 8 in the Group 3 $150,000 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 15.
The Peter and Paul Snowden trained Redzel is on the fourth line of betting at $8 for the Doomben 10,000 behind last year’s winner Music Magnate at $7 and Canberra sprinter Fell Swoop at $7.50.
The Bjorn Baker trained Music Magnate won last year’s Doomben 10,000 on a good 3 track when it was run over 1350m but has some wet tack form including a last start win in the Group 2 $200,000 Ellyce Galvin Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm April 29 on a soft 7.
Fell Swoop has mixed form on a rain affected surface and while he hasn’t won on a heavy, has two wins and three seconds on a soft track beside his name while he has won seven times on a dry track.
Trainer Matt Dale has given Fell Swoop a short freshen up since the five year old was beaten one and a half lengths when third behind Chautauqua and English on a heavy 8 in the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 1.
Kiwi dual Group 1 winner Start Wondering will be comfortable if the Doomben track remains rain affected after showing his liking for a wet surface with a win on a heavy 8 at Rosehill in a 1500m BenchMark 91 Handicap in January, 2016.
The Evan and J J Rayner trained Start Wondering has since won two Group 1s in New Zealand, the NZ$200,000 Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on January 1 and the NZ$200,000 NRM Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on February 11.
Early market order for the Doomben 10000 at Ladbrokes.com.au: $3.30 Russian Revolution, $7 Music Magnate, $7.50 Fell Swoop, $8 Redzel, $11 Start Wondering, $13 Takedown, $15 Counterattack, Rebel Dane, $17 Derryn, $21 In Her Time, $26 Clearly Innocent, Sooboog, $34 or better the rest.
