Dubbo is the latest Central West sporting ground to lose an end of year event due to extreme heat conditions.
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Racing NSW announced this morning that the slate of races planned for Dubbo's Saturday December 21 Christmas Twilights event have been abandoned due to the consistently high temperatures that were expected.
"The Bureau of Meteorology forecast for Dubbo this Saturday has remained consistent this week with a top temperature of 45 degrees predicted," Racing NSW said.
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"As a consequence, Racing NSW has determined the race meeting should be abandoned prior to acceptances being declared on welfare grounds."
Dubbo Turf Club manager Vince Gordon described the cancellation as 'unfortunate', but said he agreed with the Racing body's decision.
"It's unfortunate, but that's also life in the bush at the moment," Gordon said.
"It's an excellent call, I've no issue with the decision they've made at all, they've made the decision on welfare grounds and that's incredibly important, not just for the horses, but for the riders as well."
Instead, the Saturday races will now become a 'phantom race meeting', with all the trappings and partying, but no races held on the day.
"We've still have all the same live entertainment and our Fashions on the Field event and the like, so people can still come out and support us," Gordon said.
"A big thank you to Chill-Rite and the rest of the businesses who're supporting us and will be coming along, although it's unfortunate that we won't be able to host the races."
The event in Orange was rescheduled to be held in Dubbo, and is still expected to take place on Monday December 30, with temperatures forecast to fall over the coming week.
"That Monday is just before New Year, and that should be good now as a bit of a Christmas and New Years event for people looking to celebrate," Gordon said.