Ascot's new hurdles blown off course by strong gusts

There was late drama at Ascot on Friday when the two hurdles in the home straight were taken out in the run-up to the first race for safety reasons.

A strong gusting headwind played havoc with the course's new one-fit padded hurdles, pushing some of them too upright and compromising safety.

Chris Stickels, Ascot's clerk of the course, explained: "The gusts were blowing some of the panels too upright, leaving the flight not level, some higher than others. Some were not the right height or angle to jump safely.

"We tried to fix the problem with extra soil but the wind still affected them and it was a safety decision in the end."

Groundstaff had to quickly fill in the holes for the hurdle legs and the first two hurdle races were run without incident.

Ascot is not expecting a repeat on Saturday, with the wind forecast to abate, but Stickels added: "We think the solution will be to make the holes smaller for the legs."

This was the third meeting at the track using the new one-fit padded hurdles, which have been slowly finding favour since passing BHA approval in 2013.

There were not similar problems with the old birch-filled hurdles as there were gaps between the knitted wooden sticks to allow the wind to pass through.

The solid padded panels on the new hurdles now bear the brunt of gusts of wind.

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