Ayr cancellation ‘could cost over a million’

Ayr has been left counting the cost after the racecourse lost its biggest flat meeting of the year for the first time in living memory.

The estimated loss to the local economy could run into seven figures after all three days of the traditional Western meeting, featuring the William Hill Gold Cup, were abandoned due to an unsafe patch of ground caused by heavy rain.

“Obviously it’s our biggest flat meeting of the year and second biggest of the year in Scotland,” said Iain Ferguson, head of PR at Ayr.

“It’s hard to put a figure on it but it’s a considerable amount of money, probably into seven figures I would say. It’s not just the racecourse itself, it’s the local community. It’s traditionally the second biggest weekend of the year in the area and the last hurrah of the summer.

“After this weekend there’s nothing really for the local businesses, like hoteliers and taxi drivers, until Christmas.

“People plan their holidays around this and it’s a local holiday as well too, so it’s a massive blow. The track was raceable on Wednesday and we had 17 millimetres overnight on Wednesday into Thursday and that was when the problem came on the ground two and a half furlongs out,” said Ferguson.

Ayr managing director David Brown said everyone at the track was “devastated” at losing the three-day Festival.