Officials at Beverley are confident that they will have repaired the track in time for next Tuesday's meeting, following the abandonment of Monday's fixture after three races due to the discovery of an issue with the surface.
The Yorkshire track was forced to call off the remainder of the meeting for safety reasons, having discovered an area of concern around the seven-furlong start.
However, after meeting with British Horseracing Authority course inspector Nicky Carlisle on Tuesday morning, chief executive Sally Iggulden insisted that all parties were confident that a quick fix could be effected.
“It wasn't a hole which is good news,” said Iggulden. “It was just an issue with the turf having shallow roots, with a tree adjacent to the seven-furlong start robbing all the water from that area which has left the grass very stressed.
“What we have agreed to do is dig out that area of grass by the seven-furlong start, replace it with fibresand and then move the stalls for the seven-furlong start forward by 20 yards so that they start off that area and off the fibresand.”
In recent months, Cheltenham Racecourse was forced to abandon its final three fixtures of the season to deal with issues arising from collapsed drains, while Haydock Racecourse lost its meetings in July after a hole was discovered which was put down to historic mining activity in the area.
However, the issue at Beverley is of a rather different nature, according to Iggulden, who foresees no such problems when it comes to the track being able to stage its upcoming fixtures.
She added, “We were pretty confident that it wouldn't be drains because we had a full radar or sonar survey done of the course 14 months ago. We do know every part of the subsoil of the racecourse and you could see it wasn't a hole. It was the turf stripped off the top.
“Owners of the horses which didn't get to run last night have been compensated, as have the jockeys, and we hope that people [last night's racegoers] will be able to join us again at the end of the year for our final meeting on September 22.
“We are happy that we can get that work carried out between now and next Tuesday which will allow racing to go ahead. It will reduce the seven furlong races by about 13 yards, but it is good that we have been able to put a quick remedial measure into place that will get us up and running in time.”
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