The track at Hastings was awful from the outset and cannot take much drizzle before it goes awry, as it did today and after this G2 3yo over 1400m the meeting was abandoned. The second finisher in this event slipped badly after the winning post when decelerating and after just five races with half the card to go the meeting was gone. The G1 WFA feature over 2040m would have been around two turns so going out of the straight at speed and upon pulling up those runners would have faced the shifty area twice. The track this Spring for all three days at Hastings has been abysmal and while the weather has not helped, either has some unusual and at times vast watering just days before the three G1 racedays. You cannot control nature but you can control the watering and over-doing it for too long or putting on too much to close to raceday as too much too many times affects the root structure, the base and the ability of the track to be durable and recover. It is the ultimate slippery slope as over-watering excessively and an over-dependence on false rail usage has caused tracks to become as durable as tissue paper. The three days of the G1 Triple Crown at Hasting in 2017 have been an unmitigated disaster with biased footing presented on each and every day and terrifyingly we are nearing halfway through Spring today. Hard Merchandize won this at $27 and is a noted wet tracker, after taking the lead early and kicking on best to win by a nose in 1:25.17. It was the gelding's fourth win in seven outings and all his successes have come on rain-affected footing. All of his four wins have also come from either leading, sitting outside the pace or in the trail it should be noted too. He now has two blacktype wins with a Listed victory late last season to go with a G2 success today and both of them interestingly he won by a nostril flare. Bostonian ran a brave second and almost maintained his unbeaten record plus this also noted wet tracker had at his prior outing won at Listed level by a nose. After sitting wide handy he just kept grinding away in what was a total on pacer finish with the first four turning for home the first four clearly over the line. Jimmy Lincoln, yet another wet tracker, fought well for third after being second the outer mostly. Griffin was a very close up fourth (only half a length from the winner) after trailing on the inside and he may have been a bit close in at this stage of the day as the track got worse and worse. Lincoln Hills was fifth beaten three lengths after sitting fifth the outer and in effect keeping the eventual runner up wide throughout. Ohceedee, a maiden, was wide in the rear trio but ran on well for sixth and was one of the very few to do so the wet ground was too his liking clearly. Irish Flame whacked away for seventh after turning for home in that position. Haussmann showed no dash on the dubious footing so can be forgiven. Athletica was noticed running on very late and wet ground is clearly a plus for him having won on debut in a bog. I Got You stopped badly after sitting wide (with cover) and prior her had been beaten a nose at Listed level on slow ground by the runner up today, so the form is all over the place. Aim Smart and Felton Road never hit out properly in the dubious footing and the former over-raced badly early, so did not even want to be there on the day. Kirkland was outclassed and finished a long last. The race and result is irrelevant and a wet tracker outcome, as so many runners flopped badly and never copped the suspect footing presented. The track was shifty in more than one place and explains why almost nothing ran on or could in fact run on in such awful footing as confidence underfoot was simply not there.