Racing still feels the bite of the British weather
National Hunt racing continues to be decimated by the wet weather with Saturday’s fixtures at Sandown Park and Newcastle both washed-out following inspections today.
Prospects at Sandown had been bleak all week and it was a formality that the fixture would be abandoned following a 2pm inspection today.
“The course is probably as bad today as it has been all week and we haven’t had that much rain this morning,” said clerk of the course Andrew Cooper.
“The situation was patently clear that it was a very easy but sad decision. There was no real prospect of racing.
“We had six inches of rain in December, four coming in the last 10 days of the month.
“Half the track you could race over and the other half you couldn’t.”
Officials at Newcastle brought their inspection forward by a day to this morning following further rain.
“We had eight millimetres of rain yesterday making a total of two inches in the last six days and we had a further 5mm this morning,” said clerk of the course James Armstrong.
“There’s water standing in all sorts of places now – there’s no chance.”
So far, 26 meetings have been lost to the weather this National Hunt season.
Haydock, where the going is Heavy, are optimistic that they can save the day for jumping on Saturday.
“We’re pretty happy with things,” said clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright.
“There’s rain forecast but subject to it not being a great deal more than forecast we should be fine.
“We are forecast scattered showers, possibly sleet, but it doesn’t sound like a huge amount. We can take a bit of rain before we need to worry.”
Completing Saturday’s fare are two all-weather Flat fixtures – Lingfield plus the additional card at Southwell.
But jumping enthusiasts are at least at having their daily dose. The meeting at Ayr went ahead today and Ludlow report no problems for tomorrow.
With Hexham abandoned, Ludlow have the National Hunt scene to themselves tomorrow, backed up by an all-weather Flat fixture at Wolverhampton.
The going at the Shropshire course is Good to Soft, Soft in places on the Chase course and Soft on the Hurdle track.
“It’s been cloudy today but we’ve had a bit of blue sky. The weather forecast says we are fine – we may get scattered showers,” said clerk of the course Bob Davies.
Looking ahead to Monday, Fontwell is still waterlogged following the abandonment of Tuesday’s fixture.
“We are still waterlogged and I’ll take a view when I have another look tomorrow,” said clerk of the course Geoff Stickels.
Hereford, the other jump meeting scheduled for Monday, is also waterlogged in places but conditions have improved today.
“The place is still waterlogged. However, it has been a dry day for the most part and it has pitched off a lot during the day,” said clerk of the course Jason Loosemore.
“I hope water won’t be our problem but they are talking about colder weather coming in on Saturday and Sunday.
“That might cause us problems but I’m hopeful. At this stage no inspection is planned,” he added.
Prospects for racing in Ireland over the next few days are distinctly brighter with no inspections planned for the meetings at Cork on Saturday, Naas on Sunday and Thurles next Monday.
