Racing:Today's two British Flat meetings at Catterick and Chepstow fell foul of the unpredictable summer weather. Although the fixtures started on time, Chepstow were forced to abandon after only two races due to heavy rain while Catterick was lost after the fifth.
Although only light drizzle had fallen at Catterick, it produced unsafe ground at the North Yorkshire track and the fixture was finally called off due to two horses slipping up.
There was a delay after the third race as officials and riders inspected the track following Tubby Littlejohn’s slip in the first race. Sand was applied to the bend with both stewards and jockeys happy to let racing continue.
However, in the fifth race, Barry McHugh’s mount Actabou fell at the two-furlong marker forcing officials to inspect again. After a long deliberation by jockeys, trainers and stewards, the decision was taken to abandon racing.
Clerk of the course Fiona Needham explained the decision to abandon. “We had an inspection earlier in the day and all the jockeys were happy to ride,” she said.
“We had a bit more rain after that and then the incident when the horse fell in the straight. Basically it changed legs in the dip and sort of leapt in the air and slipped as he was recovering.
“In the interests of safety after that incident, we felt we had to abandon. I think it was a common sense decision as that happened on the straight whereas the first incident was on the bend which you can legislate for.
“It’s unfortunate we were on quicker ground, which a lot of people want, but then it is quite lush also. To be fair to everybody we gave it a shot but you’ve got to go down the common sense route in the end.
“Some of the older jockeys came up after my fall and said it wasn’t safe and everybody agreed.”
Only two races were staged at Chepstow after persistent rain that had started during the morning left parts of the track waterlogged.
“We’ve had heavy rain all day,” said clerk of the course Tim Long. “We made a going change from soft to heavy but it carried on raining.
“Jamie Spencer and Richard Hughes were out on the track with me and they voiced a few concerns and as soon as the jockeys do that, you have to take heed. They didn’t feel it was fit to carry on. We had up to half an inch of rain before racing and I haven’t been back to a rain gauge since but I’d imagine it’s nearly up to three-quarters of an inch now.