Today's meeting at Hexham was abandoned after an inspection yesterday afternoon found parts of the course to be waterlogged.

Clerk of the course Charles Enderby said: "The course was very wet before the frost got in. We had rain last night and more today leaving parts of the course unraceable."

Hexham is the fifth fixture to be lost this season in Britain after yesterday's meeting at Sedgefield was abandoned because of frost. Australian apprentice Marc Ball has failed a random dope test and has been suspended until January 19th. The 17-year-old tested positive to cannabis after riding work at Caulfield on November 23rd.

Ball, apprenticed to Mark Riley, is the second Victorian rider to fall foul of the random drug testing procedures in less than two months.

Andrew Findlay was banned for six months after testing positive to cocaine before going out to ride in a race at Flemington on October 3rd. Racing supremo Peter Savill was singing a familiar tune last night, insisting that an increased contribution from the bookmaker industry in Britain was essential to cure the sport's financial ills.

Savill, the chairman of the British Horseracing Board, told guests at the prestigious Gimcrack Dinner in York that stables are understaffed and staff underpaid, and that the British breeding industry is deteriorating.