Saturday Track Reports October 17 - Five Metro Meetings

The track's currently a Good 4 with the rail back in the three-metre position. We had racing here on Wednesday for the Caulfield Social, with the rail out at 13 metres, and they used the majority of that outside half of the track. So certainly the inside half of the track is in really good order and I expect that's where most racing is going to be conducted.

We've applied 8mm of irrigation straight after that Wednesday meeting, which takes our total to 30mm for the week. With a warm day anticipated on Saturday, we'll have to keep the water up to it.

That said, a top of 25 degrees Saturday, a light northerly wind of 15 to 20km/h, which is a headwind in the side straight, but at that velocity I wouldn't think it impacts racing too much. A little bit of light marking close to the rail with the three-metre position in the front straight, but I think by the time we run the Caulfield Cup there'll be consistent marking right throughout.

Track rating: Soft 5 (now Good 4)

Grass coverage: Good

Irrigation: Nil last 24 hours / 21mm last seven days at Thursday track walk.

Rainfall: Nil last 24 hours / 10mm last seven days at Thursday track walk.

Rail position and why: +8m from 1200m to winning post; +6m remainder, moving out from the last meeting to provide better ground.

Verdict: The track was rated Soft 5 and improving quickly. Another 8mm of irrigation was being applied during the track walk and would count towards Friday's irrigation total. A further inspection would determine whether additional irrigation was needed. There is good grass cover, with marking visible in lanes one and two from the 800m to the winning post and some sand showing through in previously marked areas. Irrigation remains important with fine, warm weather forecast for Friday and Saturday.

We've just applied the finishing touches here at Royal Randwick heading into TAB Everest tomorrow. The track's had its final mow. I've seen good improvement throughout the day with sunny conditions and probably the strongest breeze we've had. So we're into the Soft 7 range now, with a penetrometer of 5.80 and a Going Stick of 8.3. Great improvement today.

We've missed the showers that have gone south of us so far, so hopefully we'll get the same luck overnight. Tomorrow's forecast is for mostly sunny conditions, with a chance of a light shower early in the morning before it dissipates into the afternoon. Hopefully a nice clear afternoon and the track continues to improve, but it's all setting up well for tomorrow.