October
January35 is hot enough
Adrian Dunn (12/1) points out the dangers of racing once the temperature reaches 40 celsius. He suggests that this should be the cutoff point, as racing in temperatures any higher than that would jeopardise the health and safety of its main protagonists, i.e. horses and jockeys.
I’m of the opinion that he’s being too generous with that figure and that the union benchmark of 35 degrees is about right, as generally when you have a hot day there is a northerly wind blowing and high humidity, both of which tend to exacerbate the sitution.
It’s patently obvious that climate change is going to affect the weather even more in the future and racing authorities from every state along should get together with representatives from the jockey, trainer, media and even punting fraternities to formulate a plan to overcome this before it becomes a problem too great to handle.
Newport (Vic)