Vaal racecourse will host an expanded 10-race meeting on Tuesday. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
While the rest of the nation goofs off on holiday, the racing world stays on its toes. A case in point is the lightning-fast turnaround of programming at the Vaal following the washout of a marquee meeting at the weekend.
A Christmas Eve meeting at the same venue has been deftly adapted to accommodate the two feature races that couldn’t be staged on Saturday due to a scary midsummer storm.
The original eight-race meeting on Tuesday (24 December) has been replaced by an expanded 10-race meeting, which includes the postponed World Sports Betting Grand Heritage and Consolation.
The original racecard published for Tuesday is no longer correct and racing fans must use the new 10-race card that is already in circulation. Race 1 is now at 11.15am, with the Grand Heritage – Race 4 – at 12.50pm.
TAB betting on the meeting opened on Monday morning.
In a matter of hours the new racecard was assembled, printed and disseminated. Other businesses could take a leaf out of this book – in terms of responding adroitly to customer needs.
The Grand Heritage had looked such an exciting race on Saturday’s card that the gods of thunder and lightning – Zeus, Indra, Umveliqangi and their buds – pulled into the riverside course.
Though unwelcome, the rowdy gatecrashers hung around, forcing the cancellation of proceedings after the sixth race.
No sweat for the busy bees at operator 4Racing. Though Tuesday’s meeting was scheduled for the Vaal Classic course, with all action due to be around the bend, the two extra races will be contested down the outside course straight over their original, quirky, distance of 1475m.
The Pick 6, PA and BiPot bets for Saturday’s card all paid dividends, while all bets on the two features were declared null and void.
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