A TRACK inspection at St Marys on Sunday only served to vindicate the decision taken to postpone the annual New Year's Day St Marys Pacing Carnival, secretary Craig Woods said.
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Mr Woods said that even though the track appeared dry on the surface, it was still quite moist and soft just below the surface, especially at the final turn.
"St Marys copped 30 millimetres of rain Sunday a week ago and the track just hasn't dried out enough to stage the meeting," he said.
"When you consider that the carnival would have attracted about 70 horses, each of which would have pounded the track as they thundered around the final turn flat out, drivers jockeying for position in the run to the line, we simply could not guarantee their safety."
Mr Woods said that there had been some confusion about the meeting because pre-arranged television advertisements had been aired, suggesting the meeting would still go ahead.
Mr Woods said that the carnival was postponed until mid-January about 10 years ago, but the move had not proved successful and Easter Saturday was being discussed with Tasracing as a possible replacement date.
