The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has today confirmed that the Steeple Chases scheduled to take place at Exeter’s fixture on Friday 17 April and Taunton’s fixture on Wednesday 22 April have been abandoned.
Following a low amount of rainfall in recent weeks, the decision to abandon the Steeple Chases at these fixtures has been made in agreement with the BHA Course Inspectorate to allow the Exeter and Taunton groundstaff the opportunity to concentrate all efforts, and available watering, on their Hurdle courses to ensure the fixtures have the best possible chance of going ahead.
For Exeter’s fixture on Friday, the two Steeple Chases will be replaced by a Class 5 Novices’ Handicap Hurdle over 2m and a Class 4 Handicap Hurdle over 2m 4f. These races will close for entries at 12 noon tomorrow, Tuesday 14 April, with declarations to be made along with the rest of the card on Wednesday 15 April.
Jason Loosemore, Clerk of the Course at Exeter, said:
“We were hopeful the rain that was forecast over the last 48hrs would materialise; however, we only received 2mm of rainfall on Friday and Saturday and with only 5mm-10mm forecast for the week, it was felt that rainfall volumes would be insufficient to make the improvement necessary to the Chase course.
“With the current Going described as Good to Firm, Good in places, abandoning the Chase races means that all watering resources will be concentrated on the Hurdle course to ensure safe jumping ground can be produced.”
The additional races for Taunton’s fixture on Wednesday 22 April will be a Class 4 Handicap Hurdle over 3m and a Class 5 Novices’ Handicap Hurdle over 2m 4f. Entries for the fixture will close on Thursday 16 April.
Patrick Davis, Chief Executive Officer at Taunton Racecourse, said:
“This decision has been made to ensure our irrigation resources can be focussed on one course as opposed to both courses, thereby ensuring that we can produce Good ground for the meeting.
“At Taunton’s previous meeting on 9 April, 60mm of irrigation was applied across both the chase and hurdle courses, with the resulting Good ground being very well received and supported by owners, trainers and jockeys.
“We have only had 6mm of rain recorded since 14 Mach, and with a largely dry outlook ahead, the plan is to apply as much irrigation as required to ensure that similarly Good ground is produced on the hurdle course for 22 April.”
