'We’re not in the business of just dragging people here' - Chepstow defends decision-making as card abandoned after two races

Chepstow has defended the delay in calling off racing after Sunday’s meeting was abandoned following the second race amid concerns raised by jockeys regarding the ground.

The Welsh track held and survived raceday inspections at 7.30am and 9am because of snow and slush covering the course before the track was checked again before the 3m2f handicap chase for conditional riders, which was due to be the first of seven races. It once again came through that before a delegation of jockeys determined after the second race that the heavy ground had become unsafe.

Chepstow was the sole surviving fixture in Britain as Plumpton’s Premier meeting was cancelled shortly after 10am due to the heavy rain, having initially been given the green light at 8.30am despite there being areas of standing water on the track. 

Chepstow’s clerk of the course Dai Jones said: “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

“We were informed by our weather stations that the temperature was going to rise throughout the day so we waited until 9am.

“We were happy then as the temperatures had risen a fair bit and everything was going in the right direction. We were advised that we would reach up to about 10C.

Chepstow's meeting was the second in a row at the track to be impacted by adverse weather after its Welsh Grand National card was hampered by fogCredit: Alan Crowhurst

“The stewards decided to call an inspection before racing with all the jockeys, the doctors, the vets and the trainers. Everybody was unanimous at that time that the ground was ideal to race. There was no problem.”

After Katate Dori followed up his successful chasing debut at Exeter on New Year’s Day in the opener, a further inspection was called following Carismatic Soldier’s victory in the 2m novice hurdle, and the rest of the card was eventually called off at 1.15pm.

Jones said: “What didn’t help us was from ten minutes after we started, we had 9mm of rain to the end of the second race and that’s really what’s caused the damage.

“Coming down into the stable bend, the jockeys felt that the ground was unstable there and it was just cutting up a little bit."

The abandoned card came just two days after Musselburgh was criticised for calling off its Friday fixture six minutes before the first race.

Jones added: "We’re not in the business of just dragging people here, but the safety of the jockeys and horses is paramount. When they come back and say what they said, we have to listen.

“As racing people ourselves, the last thing we want to do is for everybody to travel down and not race. Unfortunately, sometimes things don’t work out.”

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