Great Leighs have announced, at the request of the British Horseracing Authority, that there will be an inspection tomorrow morning at 9am to decide whether or not the racecourse is able to race tomorrow afternoon. This inspection has been called as work that the Great Leighs management was to have carried out since last Friday has not been completed, and follows a visit to Great Leighs by Nicky Carlisle, BHA Inspector of Courses, this afternoon.

Paul Struthers, BHA spokesman, said:

“When we issued Great Leighs with their licence before their first meeting on 20 April, there were conditions attached, which meant there was further work that needed to be completed before their meeting on the 28th May.

“Nicky Carlisle, one of the BHA’s Inspectors of Courses, visited the course last Friday to check on progress and in two particular areas, namely access for emergency vehicles and the judge’s tower, progress was not as good as we hoped. We were assured, and it was perfectly feasible, that the work would be completed over the weekend.

“Nicky has visited again today and the work has still not been completed, and we are now being assured the work will be completed by tomorrow morning. This is why the inspection has been called as we don’t want to unnecessarily abandon a meeting, which will of course result in lost opportunities to run for connections.

“Whilst we expect the course to pass the inspection, this is an unsatisfactory situation to say the least.”