Weather takes toll in Britain

Racing News: Heavy rain has once again played havoc with the fixture list in Britain, forcing the abandonment of today's feature event at Newbury.

The Weatherbys Super Sprint, boasting a prize fund of £135,000, was set to be the highlight of a competitive card, but the signs were ominous when today's card was called off because of the deluge.

Clerk of the course Richard Osgood said yesterday: "Due to unprecedented rainfall today, leading to parts of the racecourse being flooded, we have had no choice but to abandon. The rainfall since 8am has been 80 millimetres and that was on top of the 10 millimetres we had overnight.

"Further heavy showers and rain are possible, so we had no alternative but to abandon.

"We will have an inspection at 7am with regard to the Arab race day on Sunday."

Nottingham passed an early inspection for yesterday's card but clerk of the course Nick Patton had to reassess after Mutajarred's victory in the fourth race.

"We have been heavy and waterlogged now for the past week and it has continued to rain heavily. We have had 10 millimetres just this afternoon," he said.

"The jockeys were happy with the track earlier and so were the trainers, but Jamie Spencer felt his horse go down on the bend and water is starting to stand all the way up the straight."

Racing at Stratford tomorrow has also bitten the dust after 70 millimetres of rain over Thursday and yesterday, and clerk of the course Stephen Lambert admits the current situation could have serious consequences for their August 2nd fixture.

He said, "We have been warned the River Avon may well burst its banks yet again. We will be needing Noah's Ark just now.

"We will be keeping our fingers crossed for our meeting on August 2nd and the additional fixture here on August 13th."

It is not all doom and gloom though; Lingfield are upbeat about the chances of today's evening meeting going ahead.

Clerk of the course Neil Mackenzie Ross was forced to take an initial look at 4pm yesterday but despite calling another precautionary check, he remains positive. He said: "We will have a precautionary inspection at 8am and we would be quite confident of racing going ahead.

"We can move the rail and do whatever is necessary to get racing on - there is one area I just want to be 100 per cent about.

"Showery weather is forecast but it's nothing we should be worried about."

No problems are reported at either Newmarket or Market Rasen, while Haydock are sticking to the 7am inspection they called earlier in the week.

Worcester have admitted defeat in their battle to stage Wednesday's fixture.

The track has yet to race following the widespread floods at the end of last month when the River Severn burst its banks and swamped the venue.