Heavy rain and strong winds decimate jump action in Britain
Yesterday’s meeting at Folkestone fell to a combination of waterlogging and strong winds while today’s action at Newbury and Thursday’s Taunton card have already been lost.
And Ludlow, which hopes to stage Thursday’s only other jump programme in Britain, is in doubt with an inspection called for 8am today.
“We’ve had three inches of rain since the last meeting,” said clerk of the course Bob Davies.
“It’s specific areas where we have the problem. From the last fence leading into the back straight and near the water jump at the far bend. The rest of the course is fine.
“Everywhere else is basically all right but we can’t avoid it, that is the trouble.
The situation is little better in the immediate future with Chepstow officials forced to call an inspection at 3pm on Wednesday ahead of Friday’s meeting.
“Since last Friday we have had an horrendous amount of rain,” said clerk of the course Tim Long.
“We had 42 millimetres that day which rendered us unraceable. Over the weekend we had about another 12mm and in the last 24 hours we have had 30mm so we’re not raceable.
“We are told that tomorrow should not be too bad a day. If we are raceable by tomorrow afternoon we might have half a chance.
“Following on from that, the forecast for Thursday and Friday is wet.
Even Saturday’s prestigious fixture at Ascot, featuring the Victor Chandler Chase, is threatened as the course is waterlogged in places.
“We are heavy, waterlogged in places. The prospects depend on what rain we get in the next 72 hours,” said clerk of the course Chris Stickels.
“We are forecast five to six millimetres each day. I would say that we get that, we would just about be all right.
“We’ve had 30mm in the last 48 hours and there’s time for it to drain away.”
The one bright spot on the horizon is Newcastle where racing is expected to go ahead today without a hitch.
The going is described as soft and no problems are anticipated.
