Xcellent lost a shoe and 1/4 hoof at the 1600 and she'll be there next year so says the trainer.

I have always lived by the motto, "winners are grinners and the losers can please themselves" so I don't want to harp, she won so fair enough.

But when the track manager goes public, saying they have prepared dead so as it may become good during the day due to the hot weather, it is a deviation from the norm.
It sounds like a reasonable idea for horse safety, but how do you read the track conditions for the future and will they continue to do it in the future.
What happens next your on a warm spring Melbourne day? and our top Aussie hope is hopeless if they spit on the track.

I just think it has set a rather dangerous precedent, when it was more than likely totally unnnecessary.