Cold spell taking its toll on Horse racing in Britain
The current weather conditions in Britain are dismal with temperatures reaching below the freezing line. This has affected horse racing in the country pretty badly. The all-weather racing track of Lingfield has also fallen prey to the long prevalent cold
spell. The track failed to come up to the requirements as early inspections were made on 3rd December. It was found to be unsafe for horse racing after the alarmingly low drop in temperature.
Neil MacKenzie Ross, the clerk at Lingfield course commented, “I’m afraid we’ve had to abandon. After the inspection, the temperature dropped to minus 12.6C.”
A meeting on 4th December at Chepstow was also cancelled by the authorities. Despite the fact that the track was not as frozen as other tracks in the country, temperatures below the freezing line made it impractical for racing.
Keith Ottesen, another clerk at the course made the following comments, “We’ve been below zero for the last 48 hours and, although it was not as cold last night as the night before, it still got down to minus 1C…The frost is deep in the ground, mainly due
to the minus 6C temperatures we had last weekend and we also have a small covering of snow.”
Exeter and Warwick are scheduled to hold the next jump racing event on 5th December, given that the patches of snow present on the track unfreeze.
Britain has been deprived of any jump racing event since last Saturday due to severe climatic conditions, much to the frustration of the management as well as the race lovers. Sandown and Wetherby were to host the races last Saturday with Kelso and Punchestown
to hold the event on Sunday.
Champion Master Minded was supposed to run the two-mile feature at Sandown. The feature is now scheduled to be run at Cheltenham’s December Gold Cup meeting if the snow unfreezes for the upcoming event.
Much to the disappointment of horse racing spectators, the Sandown two-mile contest that hosts Railway fences will not be held this year.
The managing director for Sandown, David Mackinnon made the following comments, “The Tingle Creek meeting on Saturday has grown in recent years and we had gathered such momentum that in 2009 our paying attendance was the highest for 10 years. We are devastated
to have abandoned the meeting as it’s a day of fantastic racing and festive entertainment. However, we are delighted the Keith Prowse Hospitality Tingle Creek Chase has been rescheduled at Cheltenham.”
The races to be held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Bangor, Sedgefield and Hexham respectively were also cancelled to the utmost frustration of the management as well as the fans.
The British betting industry thrives on gambling in horse racing. The sport is popular among spectators in Britain and has a huge fan following. The race courses in Ireland are not part of the British racing industry as they are run on an All-Ireland basis.
Britain is home to two major forms of horse racing, which are unobstructed distances races and races over fences, also known as National Hunt racing. Another form of racing is point to point racing or steeple chasing in which amateur riders usually participate.
The UK boosts of being home to Sir Gordon Richards, who is considered to be the greatest jockey ever. Currently, four to five hundred professional jockeys are present in Britain.
Free admittance is being granted to spectators who hold annual membership and jumps membership to both the days of the Cheltenham’s International meeting. Along with this, Kempton’s Lanzarote Hurdle meeting on 15 January is also made free.
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