It made for testing conditions and slow race times for horses and drivers and sent racegoers ducking for cover.
But among the horses that handled the tricky conditions best were two who had struggled in the sunshine and fast tracks of Omakau and Roxburgh last week.
Blueblood filly Team Kiwi galloped in the scorching heat at Omakau on Wednesday, but was faultless yesterday.
The filly had every reason to gallop again when a rival, The Arbitrator, made contact with her shortly after the start.
Team Kiwi settled quickly after the incident and scored a comfortable win for trainer-driver Robbie Holmes.
"She never settled very well at Omakau when she ran out of her gear in the run home and I thought this would be disastrous," Holmes said.
"But to her credit she came back down quickly and got home and did the job."
Team Kiwi is a Bettor’s Delight 3yr-old from classy former racemare Kiwi Ingenuity.
Holmes said there were similarities between mother and daughter.
"Not so much on the track, but off the track. Her mother was a bit fiery and she can be a little bit like that."
It is tricky for punters to form a strong opinion of Team Kiwi given she galloped in her first start and raced in unique conditions yesterday.
"When we get on a fast, dry track we will get a decent line on her," Holmes said.
"I liked the way she has found the way she has found the line in her workout and her first trial back. Holmes said the trip to Central Otago from his Canterbury base will be an important learning curve for Team Kiwi.
"She will learn a lot on the trip south and that was the idea of it.
"From the moment I loaded her on the truck to come down she felt like a different horse. She was not shying at everything and she just felt a lot sharper."
Team Kiwi is the fourth foal from Kiwi Ingenuity to make it to the races and all four are now winners.
War Admiral broke for no apparent reason when a short-priced favourite at Roxburgh on Friday.
But he did not let the heavy Cromwell track put him off his game yesterday and duly won. The Tony Stratford-trained trotter began slowly and was back in the field before the home turn before launching a huge finish to win.
Driver Sheree Tomlinson took inside runs with War Admiral in the straight and he won by more than two lengths in the 2600m feature trot.
