Group 1 Manikato delayed until Saturday after lightning causes havoc at Moonee Valley

The trainers of all 14 Manikato Stakes runners have agreed to run the race after the last at Saturday’s Cox Plate meeting after the final three races on Friday night were abandoned due to lightning.

Every effort was made to run the race safely on Friday night, with the rules of racing enforcing an automatic 30-minute delay after lightning strikes in the area, but as jockeys were mounting their horses, ready to re-enter The Valley, a large bang forced the jockeys to turn around and dismount.

But any frustration will be short-lived, after the trainers agreed to reschedule the group 1 race back to after the 10th on Cox Plate day.

Heavy rain and lightning hit the course on Friday night.Credit:Getty Images

Champion trainer Chris Waller said it was a sensible decision, rather than delaying the race a week.

“If they put it back too far, then you’ve got to try and get them back for the Lightning and Newmarket,” Waller said.

Expected rain did not hit Moonee Valley before the first race at 6.15pm, with the track racing a good 3 in preparation for the deluge.

But the storm rolled through at around 8.30pm, just before race six was due to begin, forcing the meeting to be delayed.

Because Moonee Valley’s lights could not stay on beyond 11pm, the club’s chief executive Michael Browell proposed a number of contingencies to get through the Manikato Stakes meeting.

One of those requests was for races six and eight to be abandoned, and for the Manikato to proceed on Friday night if time permitted for just one more race.

At about 9.20pm, stewards decided to abandon race six, but scheduled the Manikato to run at 9.45pm, with race eight only to follow if safe to do so.

But a second storm rolled through just minutes before the rescheduled race, and forced the meeting to be called off.

“It’s obviously bad news for the club,” chief steward Rob Montgomery said.

“We abandoned race six. We tried to get the Manikato out of the way. We thought we had a clear patch of clear air. We confirmed it with the weather bureau.

“Obviously we got the riders on the horse, and then we had lightning strike again, so we had to abandon the meeting at 9.45pm.”

Montgomery said the weather made the meeting unsafe to proceed.

“It’s not fair on the riders, it’s not fair on the horses, the animals, so the safest thing was to abandon the race meeting, unfortunately for the club and for the punters and stables,” he said.

Races six and eight are likely to be rescheduled to next Friday at Moonee Valley.

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