Hot weather forces tracks to abandon

FIVE meetings on Monday and Tuesday are off due to the forecast extreme high temperatures.

Scheduled fixtures at Beverley and Windsor on Monday have been called off, as have Tuesday’s all- weather cards at Chelmsford and Wolverhampton, plus Southwell’s jumps fixture.

The decision comes after the Met Office issued a ‘ Red’ extreme heat warning, with the affected courses all falling either within the warning area or nearby.

Richard Wayman, the BHA’s chief operating officer, said: “The BHA’s number one priority in the staging of any meeting is the wellbeing of all involved, human and equine.

“Following the issuing of the first ever extreme heat warning by the Met Office, we are taking sensible precautions and have made a decision as soon as possible in order to provide certainly for those impacted.”

Mark Spincer, managing director of ARC’s Racing Division and responsible for Windsor, Southwell and Wolverhampton, said: “We fully support the decision to abandon the fixtures scheduled to take place on our racecourses on Monday and Tuesday.

“We have been in close dialogue with colleagues at the BHA throughout this period of warmer weather and have been operating with a number of resources in place to assist horses and people working on our racecourses.

“Whilst we had taken steps to mitigate against the higher temperatures forecast for Monday and Tuesday, including moving Southwell’s race times to earlier, the latest updates from the Met Office made it clear that it was within the best interests of all concerned to abandon these fixtures.”