Channel 4 have organised to a racing programme running from 1.00 to 4.30 each day to cover the clash of the meetings at Cheltenham and Newmarket on April 17th-19th.

"These are the same times that we would have had had the Festival gone ahead this week," said Channel 4 racing producer Andrew Franklin.

"Our job in sorting this all out was made so much easier by the co-operation that has been given to us by Cheltenham and Newmarket.

"It was a big help to us that Newmarket agreed to start their meeting earlier."

They will screen live races at 1.15 and 1.45 from Newmarket each day, with the third race from that meeting incorporated into the four live races from Cheltenham.

"I've haven't sorted out which presenters will be going where yet but we have a big enough team to cope comfortably," said Franklin.

Sheep grazing in the middle of the course has forced next Monday's meeting at Folkestone to be abandoned. Under guidelines from the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food during the foot-and-mouth crisis, sheep have to be removed at least 28 days before a meeting.

"The sheep have been moved to another area, but not in time to save this fixture," said clerk of the course Chris Stickels yesterday afternoon. "We should be all right however to race on April 6th, which is a Flat fixture we have transferred from Lingfield."

Exeter's meeting next Tuesday has been called off because the course is very close to an exclusion zone.

However, in view of the number of abandonments extra fixtures have been arranged for Lingfield (March 19th), Warwick (March 20th), Huntingdon and Southwell (March 21st).

Exeter's managing director Geoffrey Billson said: "We are right on the side of an affected area. The exclusion zone stops on the side of the fence just 10 yards away from the racecourse.

"We have had conflicting advice on whether we should race but we are very sensitive to the problems of our farmers in our area. They are our customers and our sponsors."