'Our hands were tied' - Ffos Las clerk defends late decision to call fixture off after persistent rain

Officials at Ffos Las defended the late abandonment of Sunday's fixture after jockey Callum Shepherd labelled the decision farcical.

The meeting was called off at around 2.30, ten minutes after the scheduled first race time, but Shepherd insisted the south Wales track was unraceable at 1pm or even earlier.

“Finley Marsh got there before me and he sent me a video showing the state of the course. There were holes filled with water and the course was clearly unfit for racing,” said Shepherd.

“I saw the state of the course myself when I got there at around 1.30pm. I had three rides, including on a favourite and a second favourite. The late decision was farcical and it’s all incredibly frustrating.

“I had travelled all the way from Newmarket but I’m not bothered for myself, I’m thinking of all the owners who had come and stumped up all the expenses to get their horses here.

“If they’d called off earlier they might not have had to make the journey or at least been able to turn back if there’d been an earlier decision.”

Callum Shepherd: critical of Ffos Las

Clerk of the course Dai Jones said that the more than ten millimetres of rainfall in the two hours before racing was due to begin caused the late abandonment.

An inspection was called around 1.30pm as conditions worsened and after a delegation of jockeys, trainers, officials and stewards checked the track.

The amount of rain had not been forecast and clerk of the course Jones admitted it was a tough decision to take at such short notice.

“I feel for all those who had travelled long distances for the racing but unfortunately for safety reasons our hands were tied,” he said.

“Our weather forecasters had told us to expect only a light drizzle, but from 12pm until 2pm we had 10.6mm of rain. After that we were warned there would be more rain through the day.

“We got through two pony races safely before the racing was due to start, but some of the jockeys expressed concerns about water lying on the bend on the turn for home."

Hollie Doyle – who had travelled to south Wales for six rides after her triumph on Trueshan in France the previous day – and Liam Keniry joined trainers, stewards and course officials to check the track.

“The main concern was at the bend on the turn for home,” said Jones. “We could have dolled it off, but with more rain forecast it was felt that would just worsen the ground on the outside.

“It is always difficult when you have to call off at such short notice, but I have had no reports of complaints about the decision.”

The track has said all ticket holders will receive an email regarding how to obtain a refund.

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