The Doomben track has been rated a heavy 8 on race eve for the 2018 Group 1 $1.5m Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) at Doomben Saturday.

Brisbane Racing Club reported that a further 3mm of rain fell overnight on Thursday, taking the rainfall for the last twenty-four hours to 14mm and a total of 20mm for the last seven days.

“Doomben update: With additional 3mm of rain over night (20mm in total this week) Doomben now rates a Heavy 8,” the Brisbane Racing club tweet read.

The Bureau Of Meteorology is forecasting the rain to clear today and Doomben course manager Jim Roberts is hoping the track will get back into the soft range for Saturday’s Queensland Winter Racing Carnival’s premier race day.

“I walked the track on Thursday afternoon and I was confident we would improve by Friday morning but we got more rain overnight,” Roberts told AAP.

“The staff have put a lot of work into the track and it has come back well in the two weeks since Kingsford Smith Cup day.

“As always the weather will play a major role but I would hope with fine conditions and a breeze we can get back to soft by tomorrow.”

The Doomben track has been the centre of controversy after the running of the Group 1 $700,000 Altus Traffic Kingsford-Smith Cup (1350m) at Doomben on May 26 was delayed 90 minutes after the track cut up badly following a shower of rain that swept across the course during the running of the previous race.

The meeting was in danger of be abandoned but eventually proceeded when the rail in the back straight was moved out several metres around the troublesome section while the rail for Saturday’s Stradbroke Handicap meeting will be in the true position.

Ruling favourite Champagne Cuddles should have no trouble handling the wet conditions after recording one win from one start on the heavy and a third on a soft 6 in the Kingsford-Smith Cup.

The lightly weighted Bjorn Baker trained Champagne Cuddles sits at the top of the Stradbroke Handicap market order at $4.20 with Ladbrokes.com.au, just ahead of last year’s winner and Kingsford-Smith Cup winner Impending at $6.50.

The James Cummings trained Impending has a reasonable wet track record with one win and three placings from four attempts on a soft rated track as well as a third on the heavy.