A race meeting has been reprogrammed for Oamaru on Wednesday to replace the meeting abandoned yesterday due to a rain-affected track.
The meeting scheduled for yesterday was abandoned about 10.45am, shortly before the first race was to be run.
There was surface water on the track in three separate places after heavy overnight rain.
The track was considered unsafe after an inspection by the stipendiary stewards, senior jockeys and Gallop South officials.
A postponement until tomorrow was not considered an alternative in view of the weather forecast.
Fresh nominations, closing at 9am today, have been called for the meeting on Wednesday.
There is also a meeting programmed for Oamaru next Sunday.
Michael Pitman, the leading South Island trainer, was angry at the abandonment yesterday.
"It is just not good enough," he said.
"This is about the sixth time I have been involved with an abandoned meeting this season.
It has cost me the best part of $10,000 because I absorb the costs involved to my owners," he said.
Balcairn trainer Karen Parsons described the abandonment yesterday as "total incompetence on the part of racing officialdom.
"Why was a track inspection not made at 6 o'clock in the morning and a decision made then?" she asked.
Omakau trainer Murray Hamilton also had a suggestion to reduce abandonments due to rain-affacted tracks.
"All horses should race in steel plates which prevent them slipping. The cost is a lot less with steel plates at about $10 compared with $40 for aluminium plates," he said.
The abandonment yesterday followed the abandonment of the Marlborough meeting tomorrow due to an unsafe track.
The announcement was made on Thursday.
That has caused a change of plans for Faaltless, who is atttempting to gain a start in the $100,000 Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton on August 7.
Faaltless, trained at Riccarton by Shane Marr, has won four of his past five starts.
Marr had planned to start Faaltless in the Winter Cup Trial at Marlborough, where a win would have guaranteed a start in the Winter Cup.
"I will start him in the open 1400m at Oamaru now," Marr said.
The $18,000 race is tomorrow week.
The Otago Racing Club is raising $1.5 million to improve training facilities at the Wingatui racecourse.
"We are hoping to attract more trainers and horses to Wingatui," racing manager Malcolm Little said.
He said the bulk of the finance would come from the racecourse development fund established by fomer racing Minister Winston Peters.
He also confirmed that the club was proposing to sell up to three sections for residential development on the perimeter of the racecourse property.
The club is planning to provide covered yards for 72 horses and two new barns and yards, along with a swimming pool and horse walker.
There are five principal trainers at Wingatui and some 100 horses are trained at the venue.
