The Jockey Club is confident the Hong Kong racing season opener will go ahead as planned at Sha Tin on Sunday despite the torrential rain that has lashed the city.

While more than 400mm of rain has fallen in the Sha Tin area in the past 24 hours and the racecourse premises experienced some minor flooding, the track remains in good condition ahead of the first meeting since July 16.

“It hasn’t been ideal but the tracks are in excellent condition and the forecast at this stage doesn’t indicate that we should have any problems, so we’re looking forward to a great season-opening race meeting on Sunday,” Andrew Harding, the Jockey Club’s executive director of racing, said.

There were some concerns around the readiness of the city’s horses after they again missed their morning workouts on Friday, with trackwork and trials cancelled just a week after Super Typhoon Saola saw Sha Tin closed on consecutive days.

While Sha Tin’s tracks will remain deserted on Friday afternoon, walking machines have been made available to ensure those gallopers racing this weekend can emerge from their boxes for a stretch.

“There will be some light work available to horses this afternoon so they’re not confined to their boxes, which we think is important on welfare grounds,” Harding said.

Australian trainer David Hayes, who has seven runners on Sunday afternoon, is confident the interrupted preparation won’t impact the gallopers racing this weekend.

“The horses will get a nice walk today and they’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s the same for everyone, so it’s all you can do. The government rules are the rules.”

Hong Kong’s tracks are known for their remarkable draining capabilities and Stephen Higgins, the Jockey Club’s head of race day operations, tracks and racing facilities, doesn’t “envisage any problems with the racing surface at this stage”.

“The track is fine. We’re expecting to open for trackwork as normal tomorrow,” he said. “They’ve said that it’s going improve, although threat of thunderstorms will remain.

“After this level of rainfall, it does tend to tighten the track up. How much rain we get before racing will determine the racing condition.

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“It would have been on the slower side of good because there hasn’t been a horse on it and it could race a bit loose, but this sort of rain tends to pack it down. As the drainage draws the moisture through, it tends to just tighten it up a little bit.

“But that’s only if it’s dry. If it carries on being rainy it will probably race like an easy side of good track with a bit of kickback.”

The Class One HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup (1,200m) is the feature on Sunday afternoon’s 10-race card, and Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will be on hand to strike the gong to officially open the season and present the cup.