Chester pondering how to appease upset racegoers after abandonment fiasco

Officials at Chester have said they will assess ways to ease racegoers' disappointment after being forced to abandon their meeting on Saturday.

The fixture was called off after the fourth race in which the Stuart Williams-trained Humanitarian slipped and fell on the home turn, prompting a course inspection and racing to be stopped due to safety concerns.

Chester initially declared there would be no refunds for attendees but racecourse manager Louise Stewart stressed on Monday she felt a 'moral obligation' to seek a resolution for those affected by the abandonment.

'It's incredibly disappointing' - Chester abandons card due to safety concerns

"On a big-picture level there are reasons that inspections, inquires and terms and conditions exist, so we have to ensure we are not going against those terms," Stewart said.

"But we recognise that while we don't have a contractual obligation to some of these parties, we have a moral one for the good of racing. It's just taking us a while to work that through."

The no-refund policy was cited after Saturday's racing due to the fact the majority of the racing had gone ahead, with four of seven races completed.

However, after widespread online criticism about the decision, Chester issued an apology and confirmed they would contact racegoers in the coming days, urging them to retain tickets from the meeting.

"It's not simple," Stewart said. "We had to go out with that refund message because we didn't want angry customers getting frustrated about being unable to get through to our box office, which is not staffed at that point in the day to the extent that it needed to be, and we wanted to make that point clear about refunds.

Louise Stewart: 'It's about understanding what's an appropriate gesture to make'Credit: Chester Race Company

"At the moment we're asking customers to be patient while we look at what we can do to acknowledge their disappointment that racing on the day was curtailed.

"Our attendances at meetings are high and we have limits on enclosures, so we can't just say come to the next meeting. We have to take time to understand what we can do."

Stewart also confirmed the course was considering the plight of owners, trainers and jockeys, with the racecourse manager acknowledging the financial impact the abandonment may have caused.

She said: "We're obviously looking across the board and that just takes time. It's about understanding what's an appropriate gesture to make."

Chester will host its next fixture on Saturday June 11 and Stewart is confident their team will have the track ready for the meeting.

"There are lots of opinions online about whether we overwater or underwater, but I will be absolutely guided by the grounds team and feedback we get from the BHA," she added.

Saturday's abandonment marked the third meeting called off in recent days to unsafe ground conditions, with Beverley on Wednesday and Haydock on Friday also forced to end prematurely.

Lingfield's Monday card was also disrupted by going concerns, with two of its seven races abandoned after William Buick's mount Cu Chulainn slipped on the closing bend in the opening race.

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