• Uttoxeter and Hereford meetings off

By Andrew Atkinson

Cheltenham’s Festival Trials Day meeting on Saturday has been abandoned, due to a waterlogged course following an inspection on Friday.

“We walked the course with the BHA senior inspector of courses, who confirmed there were areas of the course that were waterlogged to such an extent that they were not raceable and there wasn’t ways around them, regrettably,” said Clerk of the course Simon Claisse.

“It’s a huge disappointment for us and everyone within racing. Our business is about staging horseracing and sadly this is the second event we’ve lost within a month,” he added. 

The Jockey Club are in talks with the BHA about relocating races, including the Grade 2 Cotswold Chase and Cleeve Hurdle scheduled for Saturday’s meeting.

Hereford’s meeting on February 1 and Uttoxeter’s meeting on January 31, are off, due to waterlogging: “We’ve been hopeful all along but we always needed luck. It’s not realistic to ask people to hang on for a Saturday or Sunday inspection,” said Uttoxeter’s acting clerk of the course Charlie Moore.

 

 

 

1 COMMENT