Sunday winter fixtures planned in UK

British Horseracing Board officials have revealed that plans are in place for racing to take place in Britain tomorrow week as part of a response to the number of abandonments that have taken place this season.

However, the move does not single an intention to increase Sunday racing in general, communications manager Alan Delmonte said today.

“It is very much a response to the exceptional circumstances,” he said.

“The fact that so many fixtures have been abandoned means that we have the opportunity to think about a batch of replacement fixtures.

“As part of that process we are looking at both midweek fixtures and Sunday fixtures in the next couple of weeks.

“As far as Sundays are concerned we have circulated racecourse with the fact that there are opportunities to apply for fixtures both on Sunday week and the week after.

“We’ve had a number of positive responses and obviously we are aware that with regard to next Sunday time is of the essence so we hope to be able to make an announcement on Monday.”

A total of 55 meetings have been lost through mainly waterlogging and frost this season and Delmonte added: “Because fixtures have been lost opportunities have been lost so the idea is to put on replacement opportunities where that is possible and clearly we want to do that as quickly as we can.

“The races that would be on are things like novice hurdles and chases which are sometimes not replicated elsewhere.”