Check out James Jordan's track report and speed maps as we look ahead to a massive Australasian Oaks day!
TRACK REPORT
Tracks walked at 2:30pm Thursday. Significant rain is forecast on Friday which makes it very difficult to predict the rating this far out.
Morphettville Parks: This track took a little more effort to walk than the outer track. The grass has been left longer and I thought walked a little slower than the outer track as a result, particularly closer to the fence. There was also slightly more give in the surface at the time of walking. I thought the back straight was very even but from the top of the chute to the home turn I felt the fence was slightly slower ground. I'd prefer to be sitting in lane 2 throughout that section. Approaching the home turn I still felt hard up on the fence might race as slower ground. It does depend on whether they decide to cut the grass at all and also how much rain falls on Friday. Won't surprise me if hard on the fence is not the place to be which is unusual for this track. Out beyond lane 6 there is wear from jump outs but doubtful they'll be out that wide. In the straight I thought it was more even with the fence walking as well as out wider. The coverage was really thick right around the track and the grass has been left long. I highly doubt you'd see an upgrade at any stage on the day. We last raced on the Parks a month ago and the rail was in the True, I had it racing well. It walked a genuine '4' on Thursday but that may change. Verdict = Be wary of lane 1 and don't expect to see fast times.
Morphettville: Very clean ground from the winning post right around to the 1200m mark. It's the first meeting in the True position since the end of February. It's all fresh ground and walked really well apart from a small section just after the winning post where the coverage wasn't quite as thick. From the 1200m mark to the home turn walked well with good coverage on the surface and no lanes of advantage to be found. The inside 6 lanes are all very clean with the only wear being right out wide when the rail was in the 8m and 11m positions of late. I'd imagine only a small minority of horses will be peeling wide enough to hit any kind of wear or sand-fill which is a good sign. The home turn and straight are much the same. Very even, solid coverage. The grass is at a medium length so I'd doubt the track would get too soft even with the forecast rain. There's only three races scheduled on it too so not expecting any sections to chop out with racing. Walked on the better side of a '4'. Verdict = Races really evenly across the inside 6 lanes and will cope well with any rain.
SPEED MAPS
Speed maps for all races can be found here.
FULL FIELDS + FORM
Click here to view full fields and form for Saturday's meeting.
