Anxious weather watch for Eagle Farm

Brisbane Race Club officials are confident the re-opening of Eagle Farm racetrack will go ahead despite predictions of a major weather event.

Torrential rain and high winds are predicted for Brisbane on Saturday afternoon but latest forecasts are that it will happen later in the day than first feared.

Eagle Farm was closed in August 2014 and has undergone a multi-million dollar upgrade of both the racing surface and off-track facilities.

The BRC had expected 15,000 to 20,000 to attend Saturday's meeting featuring the Group One Queensland Oaks.

The track has a new surface and expensive drainage system which is touted as being able to handle up to 100mm an hour.

BRC chairman Neville Bell said he was confident the track could handle rain.

"The drainage system is state-of-the-art and the new surface is designed to take rain," Bell said.

Chief steward Allan Reardon said safety would always be the major issue but at this stage there was no reason to panic.

"We walked the track on Thursday and it was very firm," he said.

"It is designed to take a lot of rain.

"We will probably not inspect it again until Saturday morning when we will put a horse over it."

The BRC can move the Oaks to next Saturday's Stradbroke meeting as it did in 1999 when Miss Danehill won the delayed race.