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Empress Club meeting at Turffontein postponed
The race has been moved from this Saturday to the following Saturday, 23 April 2022, due to an adverse weather forecast.
All the weekend action at Turffontein has been postponed. Picture: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
The HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco Empress Club Stakes has been postponed from Saturday until the following Saturday, 23 April 2022, due to an adverse weather forecast.
The Grade 1 race was due to have been contested at Johannesburg’s Turffontein racecourse.
Racing operator 4Racing said weather experts forecast a 100% chance of significant rain in Johannesburg for both Saturday and Sunday – making it extremely unlikely that racing could take place as scheduled.
Patrick Davis, 4Racing’s racing executive, said: “We would normally not take a decision like this based on a forecast.
“However, the various sources we rely on are unanimous in their predictions – and, given the importance of this Grade 1 race day, as well as both the sponsors’ and 4Racing’s investment into the event, we have decided to make an early call to postpone it to next Saturday.”
Davis added that the Turffontein track still has plenty of moisture in it as a result of the heavy rain last weekend and earlier this past week – and, with a very high water-table, the track would not handle further meaningful rain.
The postponement presents an issue with insufficient jockeys for the Kenilworth meeting scheduled for Saturday 23 April 2022.
Therefore, by agreement with Cape Racing and Gold Circle, the Kenilworth meeting (featuring the first legs of the World Sports Betting Winter 3 year old Series) will move to Sunday 24 April 2022, alongside the Scottsville meeting.
