A FORECAST of temperatures in the mid-40s has forced stewards and officials from the Walgett Jockey Club to abandon tomorrow's non-TAB meeting set down for the far western town.
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The decision was made yesterday, giving trainers, jockeys and officials plenty of time to make alternate arrangements.
Central West chief steward Todd Smith said discussions took place earlier in the week but ultimately the forecast just wasn't conducive to holding a meeting.
"We spoke on Tuesday about the forecast but we held off with any final decision until closer to the meeting just to see if there was any change," Smith said.
"This morning (Thursday) the forecast for out there on Saturday was for 44 degrees and it's in the best interests of the horses and the riders for the meeting to not go ahead."
Smith said there is no set protocol in place for calling meetings off, admitting each case is judged on its merits.
The decision is bad luck for officials of the club, as the meeting was only due to go ahead tomorrow after being called off due to rain back in June.
"Some of the horses that had nominated were coming from five hours away, so that makes a 10-hour round trip in a float with a race thrown in as well in that kind of heat," Smith said.
"Also the jockeys are out there in vests steering the animals around and it's tough on them as well.
"We've held meetings in quite warm temperatures before but the circumstances on this occasions just meant the meeting couldn't go ahead safely.
"It's unfortunate because the meeting had been washed out back in June, and this was the first possible date it could have been held since then.
"When the decision was made to have it this weekend, nobody would have predicted we'd be getting these kinds of temperatures. We're not even in summer yet."
