Newcastle forced to abandon

Newcastle have been forced to abandon racing on Friday evening due to waterlogging.

With York having to abandon to Ebor Festival also, racegoers in the north have been starved of action this week.

However, following unseasonable amounts of rain clerk of the course James Armstrong was left with no option and Monday’s meeting is also in the balance.

Armstrong said: “We have had a dry 24 hours but I’m afraid things just aren’t improving quickly enough.

“We’ve had nearly five inches of rain in August and that added to the six inches of rain we had in June and July so we’re saturated at the moment.

“The weather forecast looks a bit more promising for the weekend but we really need it to stay dry from now until Monday for us to have a chance of staging racing on Monday.

“We’re monitoring weather conditions closely and if we need to have a look at some point over the weekend we will certainly do so and we will keep everybody in the picture.”