Tomorrow's Newcastle meet abandoned

Tomorrow's race meet in Newcastle has been abandoned due to false patches of ground, it was confirmed today.

The Gosforth Park track has been deemed unraceable after a lengthy inspection, which began at 10.30am.

"I'm afraid we've had to abandon," confirmed clerk of the course James Armstrong.

"We've had a long deliberation but, as ever, it boils down to safety and it is just not improving quick enough.

"We walked the course twice and (jockey) PJ McDonald was with us and while he was optimistic, we had to think of it from a safety point of view.

"There are too many patches of false ground and you could not be confident of galloping horses on it.

"We hope it stays dry for the rest of the week as out final Flat fixture is on Sunday."

The news is a big blow to title-chasing jockey Paul Hanagan who had a full book of rides.