Rain claims Redcar
Heavy rain is starting to disrupt the racing programme in Ireland and the UK, with today’s meeting at Redcar washed out and inspections called at three of tomorrow’s fixtures in Britain.
In Ireland, Sligo’s card tomorrow fell to the wet weather after the loss of meetings over the weekend and the earlier abandonment of today’s Kilbeggan programme.
At Redcar, overnight rain left the track heavy in places and clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson was not expecting conditions to improve.
He said: “We have abandoned. We had about 15 millimetres of rain overnight and there are areas of standing water and patches on the track which couldn’t take much more rain. The weather is due to get worse as the day goes on with no improvement until 4pm.”
All three of tomorrow’s turf meetings, at Beverley, Leicester and Towcester, are in doubt.
Officials at Beverley have called a precautionary inspection for 3pm ahead of tomorrow’s meeting.
The going at Beverley is heavy after substantial rain but course manager Sally Iggulden is keen to give the meeting every chance of going ahead.
She said: “It is heavy but it has just stopped raining and a break in the weather would help us an awful lot.
“We have called a precautionary inspection for 3pm but we will be keeping a close eye on it until then.
“We are forecast a break in the weather but we really wouldn’t want much more rain as we have already had about eight millimetres today.
“We feel we need to give it a bit more time but if it were to deteriorate we would have to make a decision.”
Heavy rain over the weekend has forced Towcester to call a precautionary inspection at 9am tomorrow ahead of their evening fixture.
Officials remain hopeful racing will still go ahead if the weather improves as is forecast.
“We are currently heavy following 20 millimetres of rain since 10am on Saturday,” said clerk of the course Robert Bellamy.
“Further showers are forecast today but there’s a much-improved forecast for tomorrow which we’d need. If there is an improvement tomorrow I’d be very hopeful.”
Leicester have called a precautionary inspection for 8am but clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson remains optimistic about their chances of going ahead.
He said: “We had 10 millimetres of rain yesterday which means we have had 40 millimetres over the last six days. We can’t take much more rain but I would be hopeful if there’s not a lot more.”
Tomorrow’s meeting at Sligo fell by the wayside due to a waterlogged track.
Officials held an 8am inspection but found the track to be unraceable after heavy rain.
Turf Club press officer Cliff Noone said: “Sligo has been called off. They inspected the track this morning but found it unfit for racing due to waterlogging.”
