Today’s Sandown flat card, that included the bet365 Classic Trial, has been called off due to unsafe ground. However, race officials at the Esher track report no issues ahead of Saturday’s big Jumps Finale Fixture, that will include last week’s Scottish Grand National winner Kitty’s Light.
Sandown Call Off Friday’s Flat Fixture Due To Unsafe Ground
ITV Racing were set to show four races LIVE at Sandown this afternoon, but after a busy time of it they can put their feet up as the fixture has been called off due to unsafe ground.
The decent Classic Trials Day card was set to feature the 2021 Epsom Derby winner Adayar, who was going to run in the bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes. We are also expected to see the John Gosden Derby hope Arrest in action in the Classic Trial, is currently @ 20/1 with bet365 for the big English Classic on June 3rd.
The flat track had 12mm of rain in recent days and this came after 21mm had fallen on the course since Friday 21st April. This resulted in false patches of ground, making it unsafe for today’s flat fixture.
Clerk of the course, Andrew Cooper told the Racing Post “We’ve had just over 12mm of rain here overnight. It started at 3.30pm and was quite light, but it really escalated at 6pm and didn’t stop until 11pm. I thought we should announce a precautionary inspection knowing there was more rain, which did come.
“The ground is too inconsistent for Flat racing, there were a significant number of false areas which couldn’t be avoided. That’s the crux of the call and it’s not really going to improve within the timeframe. It’s not fit for purpose today.”
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The Better News Is Saturday’s Jumps Card Is Fine
With this news, jump racing fans were left wondering the fate of Saturday’s Jumps Finale Card – which is the last day of the 2022/23 National Hunt season.
However, no inspection is planned for Saturday’s card, which includes the bet365 Gold Cup (2:15pm) and the quick reappearance of last week’s Scottish Grand National winner Kitty’s Light.
The ground was officially good on the chase track and good, good-to-soft on the hurdles course on Thursday.
Cooper added to the Racing Post “I haven’t had a chance to assess the impact of the rain here [on the jumps track] but it will have eased. There will be no issues, though, and no inspection planned, ” Cooper added.”
Saturday’s big end-of-season Sandown card will also feature the bet365 Celebration Chase (1:40pm), where the winner of the race for the last two years, Greaneteen will be hunting a famous treble in the Grade 1 contest.
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