Waterlogging claims Newbury’s Flat finale

Saturday’s meeting at Newbury has been called off due to a waterlogged track.

The card was set to feature two Group Threes, the BetVictor Horris Hill Stakes and the BetVictor St Simon Stakes, as well as the Listed Highclere Thoroughbred Racing Stakes.

With Friday’s fixture cancelled on Thursday, an inspection was called for 2pm on Friday ahead of Saturday’s meeting but clerk of the course George Hill was able to make an early call after a further four millimetres of rain.

“The weather at this time of year means it’s either overcast or even if the sun comes out for a bit, like yesterday, it’s only up for about five hours,” said Hill.

“Our back straight remained in the shade so it’s very difficult. All the racecourses are suffering.

“We walked it this morning and it had improved a little but not enough and then we got another 4mm on top, so unfortunately it was an easy decision to bring the inspection forward.

“The only positive of it is the jumps track will be enjoying this weather.

“We’re not looking at rescheduling the Group races, obviously our Flat season has come to an end, it’s late in the season for us.”

Saturday’s fixture at Doncaster will need to pass a 3.30pm precautionary check after Friday’s action was called off.

A total of 2.3mm of overnight rain on Town Moor has left some areas of already heavy ground saturated, forcing the cancellation of the seven-race card.

The track is due to stage the Kameko Futurity Trophy – the final Group One of the British season – on Saturday and clerk of the course Paul Barker is optimistic on the chances of that meeting going ahead.

He said: “Unfortunately we have had overnight rain which has caused the abandonment of today’s card.

“We are just looking at some rail movements to cover the affected areas and once we have done that, if the forecast is right, we would be pretty confident about tomorrow.”