Blank day for British jumps cards on Wednesday
Wincanton and Catterick both forced to abandon.
There will be no jumps racing in the UK for a second successive day after Wednesday’s meetings at Wincanton and Catterick were both abandoned. With Kelso and Leicester’s Tuesday fixtures called off, jumping fans have been starved of action this week. Wincanton initially inspected at 8am on Tuesday but pushed that back to 4pm as the course showed signs of improvement after a heavy covering of snow which arrived on Sunday. However, the problem then was that thawing snow left areas of the track waterlogged. “We held an inspection at 8am and couldn’t pass it due to a lot of snow lying, so decided to go again at 4pm,” said clerk of the course Daniel Cooper. “We thought we’d be OK – but what has happened is the thaw has created standing water across the track, and the vulnerable areas have quite a lot. Even the areas that tend to be OK are slushy, and we can’t get through that. “What caused the abandonment is the storing of the snow, and the snow has stayed with us a lot longer than thought. We’ve had everything thrown at us this winter.” At Catterick, the thaw did not arrive in time – and the fixture was abandoned after a 3pm inspection. A Tweet on the track’s official account read: “Unfortunately tomorrow’s card has been abandoned. Following 4 nights of hard frost and no improvement in conditions today the forecast slow rise in temperatures gives insufficient time for the track to be raceable.” British jumps racing is scheduled to resume at Fakenham and Wetherby on Thursday. But the West Yorkshire track must pass an initial inspection at 9am on Wednesday to assess the thawing of frozen areas of waterlogging in the back straight.Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.
Latest
-
Nicholls remains confident ‘we will make it 15 one day’
Ditcheat handler had to settle for third place in this season’s title race.
-
Romantic Warrior reigns again but Golden Sixty upset
There were mixed fortunes for Hong Kong’s two superstars on Champions Day.
-
Nicholls remains confident ‘we will make it 15 one day’
Ditcheat handler had to settle for third place in this season’s title race.
-
Recently-retired trio grateful for Sandown tribute
Paddy Brennan, Jamie Moore and Aidan Coleman all honoured at Esher track.
-
King Of Steel looks set for Sandown seasonal debut
Brigadier Gerard Stakes likely to be on the agenda ahead of Royal Ascot.
-
Smith excited by double chance of ending Classics hoodoo
Ghostwriter and See The Fire will go for Guineas glory at Newmarket.
-
Kyprios makes perfect return in Vintage Crop
Top stayer triumphs with minimum of fuss as 2-13 favourite.
-
Kyprios makes perfect return in Vintage Crop
Top stayer triumphs with minimum of fuss as 2-13 favourite.