Doncaster have cause to be hopeful of staging Futurity Trophy card

PA Sport Reporters
October 27, 2023 3:19 pm

Friday’s fixture was lost after persistent rain this week.

Officials at Doncaster are hopeful Saturday’s high-profile card will go ahead despite calling a second precautionary inspection for 7.30am.

With the ground already heavy, further overnight rain on Thursday evening left some areas of the track saturated and forced the abandonment of racing on Town Moor on Friday.

An initial 3.30pm precautionary check was announced to assess the prospects for Saturday’s card, due to feature the Kameko Futurity Trophy – the final Group One of the British season.

With his team having spent much of Friday moving rails to avoid the worst of the ground, clerk of the course Paul Barker is hopeful that he will be able to give racing the go-ahead on Saturday morning.

He said: “The picture is a lot more positive than this morning. We have had 1.4mm of rain today, but it’s been a brighter afternoon and we have a little bit of breeze as well.

“The precautionary inspection is there really because the forecasters haven’t been great to us in the last three or four days and we just want to make sure everyone is happy in the morning.

“We’ve moved a mile of rail on the home straight to avoid the area that was a challenge this morning. It’s been a great effort by the ground staff to take out that problem and the rest of the ground, at the moment, is OK.

“Fingers crossed we get here in the morning, the rain gauge is empty and we’re good to go.”

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

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.”

Newbury’s Saturday 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.

The British Horseracing Authority has announced both the Horris Hill and the St Simon Stakes will be rescheduled to Newmarket’s two-day meeting next week, with original entries for both races cancelled and entries for the replacement racing closing at noon on Tuesday, October 31.