It might be early days yet, but the Riccarton track has passed its first test after sand slitting was completed around the track.
Canterbury Racing hosted a nine-race card at the course on Friday, its first meeting since early December.
''Everything was exceedingly positive, to be fair,'' Canterbury Racing chief executive Tim Mills said.
The sand slitting of the course proper came a season after the 1200m chute was slitted, and had been tentatively planned since the late 1990s.
''When we go back to when we rebuilt the track in 1998, there was a recommendation that in 14 or 15 years, we would have to look at something like sand slitting,'' Mills said.
The track was rebuilt in the 1990s with a ringmain drain on the inside of the course, and Novaflo plastic drainage pipes extending out into the track in 6m intervals in a 45-degree herringbone pattern.
The drains are 400mm underneath the track and the sand slitting opens up the track to allow surface water to work its way down to the pipes.
''The sand slitting goes out in metre distances running parallel to the direction of the track,'' Mills said.
''There were 25 of them or thereabouts put into the track. They bisect the lateral drains at a level just above the Novaflo pipe.
''What it's designed to do is take the saturation and surface water much more quickly - I don't think it will ever stop heavy tracks if it's raining close to and up to the day - but after some of those saturation situations that we've seen in recent years, the intention is the sand slitting will alleviate that.''
Although the track has yet to be seriously tested, the feedback from jockeys indicated the work had the desired effect.
''Matt Cameron said it was absolutely excellent - he told our track manager that the sole of grass on the track is how all tracks should be prepared,'' Mills said.
Chris Johnson said the track was excellent, and David Walsh sat down with the stipes towards the end of the day and spent five minutes complimenting how it had come through everything.
Walsh and local trainer Neill Ridley had inspected the work early in the process. Current and former jockeys who rode trackwork on the course on February 12 also gave it a pass mark.
''Everyone was positive we'd have no problems on race day and so it transpired.''
The next question is how the track will cope in winter, although the success of the 1200m chute last year gives Mills and his team plenty of confidence it can handle heavy rain.
''In a perfect world, I'd hope we'd never have to test it, but the reality is come May, June, July and August, the rain will come and we'll see how it performs then.''
