Following the abandonment of 30 Jump fixtures to date since the beginning of 2009, The British Horseracing Authority is pleased to announce that applications have been invited from racecourses for seven additional Jump Replacement Fixtures to take place on the following dates:

Friday, 6th February
Friday, 13th February
Sunday, 15th February
Friday, 20th February
Friday, 27th February
Sunday, 1st March
Sunday 8th March

In order to take account of latest available weather forecasts, the venues for the first three fixtures will be announced on Friday, 30th January and venues for the remaining four fixtures will be announced in mid February.

Stuart Middleton, Racing Manager for the Authority, said:

“We are extremely grateful to the Horserace Betting Levy Board for supporting these extra fixtures, particularly as the Fridays will be fourth fixtures and therefore surplus to the Levy Criteria. The programmes for these fixtures will be aimed primarily at novice and bumper horses as we have somewhat of a backlog of young horses trying to get onto the track.

“It also becomes extremely important at this time of year for those trainers worrying about getting three runs into a novice horse so that it can be qualified for the Cheltenham handicaps by the qualification date of February 22nd. This is because all of the Cheltenham Festival handicaps are Class 1 or Class 2 and horses need to have run at least three times before they can run in such races.”

David Bradshaw, Racing Executive for the HBLB, said:

“The Levy Board recognises the extreme difficulties that Jump Racing has faced during the last few weeks and the additional fixtures will hopefully provide Owners and Trainers with some recompense for the lost opportunities.”