Four race meetings set to have taken place in Britain this coming Wednesday have been abandoned and timings to two Thursday fixtures have been adjusted as the country faces a heatwave which could see temperatures rise to 37C.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) confirmed on Monday that Wednesday's Flat and National Hunt fixtures at Kempton Park, Salisbury, Worcester and Ffos Las will not go ahead following a red extreme heat warning being issued by the Met Office. The red warning covers parts of the Midlands and southern England and Wales from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.
Racing will go ahead at Carlisle in the north of England as scheduled. The lost Ffos Las and Kempton fixtures have been rescheduled to be run instead on Monday, June 29, and Salisbury's meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 30.
On Thursday, fixtures at Nottingham and Newmarket, which are both in the amber heat warning zone, will be run earlier in the day, with Nottingham's first race off at 10.30 and Newmarket getting underway at 10.45am. The two-mile Dereham Handicap which had been scheduled for Newmarket on Thursday will be moved to the Friday evening meeting.
A statement released by the BHA on Monday read, “The BHA's hot weather policy states that where racecourses fall within a red warning zone, the fixture will be abandoned. In addition, horses must not be travelled from or through areas that have red warnings in place.
“The decision to abandon the fixtures has been taken in conjunction with the racecourses with a view to mitigating any risk to the health and wellbeing of equine and human participants.
“The BHA will continue to liaise with racecourses hosting fixtures in amber warning zones this week to consider any further mitigations that may be needed, in line with the BHA's hot weather policy.
“Each fixture will be managed on a case-by-case basis, with several factors considered according to the local weather forecast and environmental conditions.
“Trainers are reminded that horses should not be moved from or through any areas where red heat warnings are in place.”
The heat is also affecting racing in France, where the action was called off on Sunday at Mont-de-Marsan and Monday's meeting at Lyon-Parilly was staged in the morning instead of the afternoon.
Chantilly's meeting on Wednesday has also been brought forward to a 9.45am start time, while the race meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Chateaubriant has been moved to Dieppe and will commence at the later time of 5.30pm. France Galop has also announced that Thursday's fixture at Argentan has been moved to a twilight meeting at Deauville, where racing will get underway at 6.15pm.
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