Friday's Sandown fixture is the third meeting in two days to be abandoned due to excessive heat, with Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) calling the seven-race program off on Thursday.RVL CEO Rob Hines said it had looked at holding the bulk of the meeting on Friday morning, starting at 9am (AEDT)."But the weather bureau has advised us that it will be 37-38 degrees by 10 o'clock (AEDT) tomorrow morning," he said."With a few days of build up with this oppressive heat, and horses having to be floated to

Friday's Sandown fixture is the third meeting in two days to be abandoned due to excessive heat, with Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) calling the seven-race program off on Thursday.

RVL CEO Rob Hines said it had looked at holding the bulk of the meeting on Friday morning, starting at 9am (AEDT).

"But the weather bureau has advised us that it will be 37-38 degrees by 10 o'clock (AEDT) tomorrow morning," he said.

"With a few days of build up with this oppressive heat, and horses having to be floated to and from, we really felt the best thing to do was to abandon Sandown tomorrow."

Hines said RVL was hopeful the important Lightning Stakes meeting at Flemington on Saturday was not under threat with the prediction of a top temperature of 35C.

"We will still be under review with regard to Flemington until tomorrow when we've got a solid forecast," he said.

Race times for the eight-race program have already been brought forward with an 11.40am (AEDT) start and a 4.05pm finish.

"With the facilities here at Flemington, with the stalls and the lead into the mounting yard all being improved considerably and the meeting being on earlier, we should be okay," Hines said.

"We are very hopeful we will be able to go ahead, but we are also working on some contingency plans just in case.

"We do have to put the welfare of the horses and the participants right at the forefront of our thinking."

Wednesday's Gawler meeting in South Australia was a victim of the heatwave, being abandoned the previous day as was Thursday's Ballarat fixture, while the last two races at Geelong on Wednesday were abandoned due to the 43C heat.

Hines said the abandoned races in Victoria would be added to the calendar so that owners and other participants did not miss out on the opportunity to win the prizemoney involved.