Tracks confident they can cope as heatwave sweeps across Britain

As Britain prepares for record temperatures on Monday, the three tracks racing at the height of the heatwave are confident they will be able to go ahead with no issues.

The Met Office has issued a red warning for extreme heat, possibly up to 40C, and five fixtures have been called off on Monday and Tuesday to safeguard human and equine welfare.

Lake District track Cartmel has brought race times forward on Monday, when its seven-race card will run from 12pm to 3.15pm to dodge the worst of the heat, while Ayr's fixture begins at 1.50pm.

Cartmel's clerk of the course Anthea Leigh said: "We're not expecting the huge temperatures they might get further south. The forecast is for the temperature to peak at 28C at 4pm.

Anthea Leigh: 'It will be 26C or 27C but we've raced in those temperatures before'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"We've grouped together the hurdle races, which have the most runners, and put them early. Then there are three chases, with the last a two-runner race which we've put at the end, which gives us the greatest capability of cooling the horses.

"It will be 26C or 27C but we've raced in those temperatures before and we have good cooling facilities and teams."

The decision to switch race times was made on Saturday and Leigh said: "We've been proactive. There are operational issues with an early start but nothing we can't get round and trainers and jockeys were happy with the move. We're doing it for welfare and everybody is on board with that."

Ayr is not expecting such hot weather for its Monday afternoon Flat fixture and clerk of the course Graeme Anderson said: "It may get up to 25C or 26C but not until 6pm. During the day we'll be about 23C or 24C.

"We've hired cooling fans and we'll have plenty of water but we've had it a lot worse – last summer we raced in 27C or 28C."

Graeme Anderson: 'It may get up to 25C or 26C but not until 6pm'Credit: David Carr

Nor are there any fears for the Flat card at Musselburgh on Tuesday. Chief executive Bill Farnsworth said: "The forecast is for it to be 29C or 30C, which is fairly warm for us, but they race in those temperatures fairly often in England.

"We're well geared up for it, we have plenty of water, and we should be fine."

Among the trainers welcoming the BHA's decision to scrap meetings at courses expecting the hottest temperatures is Rebecca Menzies, who said: "I agree with it 100 per cent.

"It would have been too early a start time and it's probably only going to be a week of the whole year that there's going to be a bit of disruption, and horses have to come first."

Rebecca Menzies: 'Horses have to come first'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Jamie Snowden added: "It's got to be the right decision. At the end of the day we're not used to racing in 35C, are we?"

James Tate, who qualified as a vet before becoming a trainer, will tone down the workload for horses at his Newmarket yard.

"For the next two days we won't be doing any big, long lots or long bits of exercise, or any gallops or things like that," he said.

"It will just be a case of getting in, getting out, doing a little bit of exercise and keeping hydrated and cool.

James Tate: 'As trainers we're used to adapting all the time and it shouldn't be too bad'Credit: Edward Whitaker

"As trainers we're used to adapting all the time and it shouldn't be too bad. We'll get out early and we won't do too much with them in the next couple of days. I'm sure they'll cope with it better than we do."

Warwickshire jumps trainer Olly Murphy is starting operations an hour early and said: "We've got a lot of winter horses back in now, so Monday and Tuesday are going to be challenging, but we're all going to have to deal with that.

"They'll get the best of attention and it will cool down by the end of the week."

Weather forecaster and racing enthusiast John Kettley warned that extreme temperatures could also be a feature of future seasons.

"We did have something not too different in 2018 and we'll probably start to see more of these short heatwaves in the coming decades," he said. "That doesn't mean to say every summer will be like this, some will probably be quite wet and cool. But it's symptomatic of what's happening around the globe."

Britain heating up: trainers on how they will handle the rising temperatures

Julie Camacho
Norton

We’re going to start very early, the staff will probably come in about five-ish, get the horses out and finish before the peak heat. It’s just unprecedented – it’s not normal. I look out at the paddock and the grass is all yellow. We’ll get out what we need to get out to keep them all well and cool as we can. I’ve gone and bought loads of ice lollies for the staff before they all get sold out!

Ewan Whillans
Hawick

We’ll get away to Ayr early tomorrow morning to beat the worst of the weather but we’re lucky being in Scotland anyway. I was sitting out last night and thinking I might need to go and put rugs on them, it’s nice and breezy here. We’ll probably start early on Monday and Tuesday and just get everything done. They’ll not do work, probably just canter steadily and get a nice cold hose plus some electrolytes at night. We’ll manage, it’s definitely worse in other parts of the country.

Richard Spencer
Newmarket

Our mornings will probably be the same, we pull out early anyway and should be done by the time the heat gets to us. It’ll be normal morning stables and we’ll wash the horses off in the evening as we would do on hot days. That’ll be it really, we’ll keep things very simple.

Oliver Signy
Lambourn

We are pulling out an extra hour earlier so we can get the first canter done while it's still cool and then we'll do the trotting slightly later on. We will wash them off and give them a bath as well, but if they need to be cooled down in the evening then we can do that too. We will obviously monitor them more, but our stables are nice and cool and there is good air that flows through.

David O'Meara
Upper Helmsley

We haven't done anything up to now but tomorrow we're going to be starting an hour and a half earlier and will try to get most of the horses ridden out before it gets hot. Horses get particularly hot in their boxes so we bring them out and hose them down with cold water and put them back in. We do what we can but horses actually cope pretty well with the heat. Exercising in it can be tough but generally when they are at rest they cope well with it.

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