In a body blow to Carrathool Jockey Club (CJC), the second attempt at staging the historic Carrathool Cup card at the weekend had to be abandoned because of heavy rain.

With the track waterlogged and the car park resembling a "lake", stewards inspected the track on Friday night and subsequently called off the meeting.

CJC secretary Cath-erine Merrylees yesterday described the wash-out as a major disappointment to the small western Riverina club with only one race date a year.

Merrylees said the CJC committee had been "red hot" to run the meeting, but the weather stepped in to thwart its plans.

"It's hard to believe we've been washed out twice in four weeks," Merrylees said yesterday.

"We had everything right to go. The course was ready and the cool rooms were ready."

Merrylees said yesterday Saturday's wash out had doomed Carrathool to go raceless this year.

"It's too late to think about another date," she said.

"The committee will all want to get on their tractors to take advantage of the rain.

"It's a bittersweet pill."

The Carrathool Cup program was originally scheduled for February 6 but was postponed to Saturday when the track was hit by a deluge.

Merrylees said the CJC had finally run out of options, with the Cup and support races abandoned for one of the few times in more than 100 years of thoroughbred racing history.

"It's unfortunate, but we'll have to write off 2010," she said.

"It's amazing how things have gone in recent years.

"A couple of years ago we horse flu and last year it was the hottest day on record."

Merrylees said an inspection by a steward late on Friday had dashed hopes of the meeting going ahead.

"The steward didn't think the track was safe and the jockeys wouldn't ride," she said.

"We just couldn't get across the finish line."