Track picture perfect for the Cox Plate

Moonee Valley course curator Marty Synan is expecting a fair track across the board when the club hosts 18 races in 24 hours on the weekend.

Friday night kicks off with an eight-race card, highlighted by the Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup, while on Saturday a further 10 races will be held with the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) the feature.

The rail for both meetings will be in the true position and Synan and his team got to work straight after the ‘Breakfast With The Best’ gallops on Tuesday morning to ensure the track would be in peak condition.

Synan said 30mm of rain last Friday saved watering the track over the weekend while he planned to put 5mm of irrigation on the track on Tuesday.

“For the gallops on Tuesday, they were out 12 metres, and all the damage is out wide and after the gallops the boys will rake all that back,” Synan said.

“We’ll pull the rail down and put four to five millimetres (of irrigation) on. The moisture is around that 28 per cent, which we’re quite happy with because of the rain last week.

“We’ll give the track it’s final mow, probably put the rail back up tomorrow, and hopefully start off on a Good4 on Friday and if we get an upgrade then we’ll water Friday night.

“If we don’t get an upgrade, we’ll just assess our moisture contents and then decide what we do.”

The rail has not been in the true position since the Moir Stakes meeting on September 7 then following the Manikato Stakes meeting on September 27, the track was vertidrained.

“We got 30 mils last Friday which was perfect for the weekend,” Synan said.

“It’s warm today and it will dry out a bit, but I’m happy with where it is at. It’s got a good cover of grass, and we haven’t raced in the true since the Moir.

“We vertidrained the whole track after the Manikato and it’s pretty even right across, so there should be any excuses.”