SUPER STORM SATURDAY

By Graham Potter | Saturday, March 6, 2010

Call it ‘Super Storm Saturday.’

That’s how the violent storm cell that attacked Melbourne and left race-goers at Flemington all the worse for the encounter will be remembered. A severe weather warning had been put in place not long before the storm struck, but the severity of its impact was far greater than anyone had anticipated. Most said they had never seen anything like it before.

As the gloom gathered at pace and darkened the landscape to an eerie degree, nineteen runners charged down the Flemington straight chasing Group 1 glory in the Newmarket Handicap. Flashes of lightning and drum rolls of thunder provided a final warning of the fast approaching storm as the Peter Moody trained Wanted got home to finally claim his place as a winner at the most elite level of competition.

Only minutes later, Flemington felt the fury as the full force of nature was unleashed across the track. A deluge of rain accompanied by a hailstorm of powerful proportion pounded the racing surface and any man, woman or horse who failed to find cover quickly enough.

The track was flooded in less than twenty minutes and substantial sized hailstones, after bouncing around in a dangerous manner on landing, finally settled down, linked together and formed a large white sheet that covered the ground and transformed a racecourse into a quadmire.

Overflows off grandstand roofs became waterfalls. Staircases became rivers. Tunnels became catchment areas. Grass verges became cream coloured slides. Some race-goers managed to find a bit of fun in the mayhem. For others it was just a bit of chaos.

For those who counted most however, the owners, trainers and jockeys that were putting on the show until nature took centre stage, there was only one obvious outcome of the storm’s intrusion that still needed to be ratified.

It didn’t take long for them to get the official verdict that the remainder of the meeting had been washed out.

It was one of those days at the races which will be remembered a long time from now, long after the name of the winners on the day have been forgotten. That will be the legacy of Super Storm Saturday.

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