Wagga trainers are disappointed the track's Christmas feature, Friday's Ted Ryder Cup, has been switched from the course proper to the Riverside track as the main track is still unsuitable for racing after remedial drainage work.
Wagga has been racing on its second track while the work took place, but the Ryder Cup meeting was when the club had hoped to return to its main track.
It has long-time Wagga trainer Gary Colvin considering a trip to Sydney with Ted Ryder Prelude runner-up Danetrille for a Highway Handicap rather than racing on Riverside track again.
"It doesn't suit my horse," Colvin told the Daily Advertiser. "He likes to settle and come from behind and it disadvantages those [sort of] horses. It's a real leaders-bias track on the inside [track].
"[The Riverside is] not the ideal for a Ted Ryder Cup. That's my opinion. It's just not suitable."
Tumut trainer Kerry Weir, who had Bondo run third in the prelude, echoed Colvin's concerns at the change.
"We were hoping it'd be on the main track," Weir said. "The Riverside, it's doing the job, but it's a horses-for-courses track. It suits the leaders.
"It's not ideal. We'll nominate [Bondo], but we were hoping it would be 1600 [metres] on the main track.
"But there's not much you can do. You've got to work on the track when you need to. It had to be done."
Meanwhile, Taree trainer Ross Dawson will be looking for a Christmas double on his home track on Monday.
Dawson only has Lippy And Pearls and Clunes Rocket in work and they will line up at the Taree meeting.
"It might be a feast or a famine," he said.
Lippy And Pearls will look to add the Hannam Vale Cup, which Clunes Rocket won a couple of years ago, to her Kempsey Cup win from last month. She is coming off only being beaten two-and-a-half lengths in a Highway Handicap following her Kempsey Cup win.
Dawson is also confident Clunes Rocket can return to the winner's circle earlier in the day.
Race diary
Monday: Narromine, Taree. Tuesday: Armidale. Friday: Lismore, Wagga. Saturday: Bathurst.
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