Freezing temperature likely to disrupt races in England and Ireland
Cold temperatures are expected to cause interruptions in this week’s horse racing events in the United Kingdom. No final decision, regarding the schedules, has been taken yet, as all venues will be inspected prior to that.
Six events are scheduled to take place at Folkestone today, but the freezing temperatures have caused a few concerns to the management. The track was covered last night, but it is still expected to be affected by the frost.
However, the weather conditions in Southwell and Taunton are expected to be good for racing. The former venue might see heavy cloud cover throughout the day, but it will not disrupt racing.
Other than today’s events, there is also some doubt over the races to take place throughout this week. One of the venues, where the weather has fallen below freezing point, is Sandown.
According to the organisers at Sandown, the mercury is expected to fall after coming Wednesday, February 1, 2012. This might affect the races, scheduled to take place on Saturday.
Andrew Cooper, clerk of Sandown course, said:
“Its forecast to get very cold overnight from Wednesday onwards and we have covered the whole course this afternoon. The daytime temperatures are expected to be pretty woeful as well so we will have to take a view later in the week.”
Other races, expected to be disrupted by the freezing weather this week, are scheduled to take place at Leicester, Towcester, Wincanton, Chepstow, Fairyhouse and Punchestown. The latter two are Irish venues.
The weather conditions are not only a problem for the local organisers, but the British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) is also concerned about the situation. They are planning to replace the fixtures, but no final decision has been taken yet.
John Maxse, BHA spokesman, stated, “We are hopeful for Wednesday's meetings but for Thursday and Friday we are considering moving our twilight all-weather meetings to the afternoon. Beyond that it will be 24 or 48 hours until we make a decision on
any replacement fixtures.”
The spectators and organisers will be hoping that the weather remains good for racing in the coming week otherwise they will be deprived of some quality horseracing action.
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