Ludlow fined £1,750 for posting misleading ground description before cancelling January meeting

Ludlow has been fined £1,750 by the BHA's disciplinary panel for misleading participants "as to the suitability of the track” when a fixture was cancelled after its scheduled start time due to areas of the course being frozen.

The meeting on January 16 passed a 7am inspection, but concerns were raised by jockeys and trainers that the track was still partially frozen in the build-up to the first race at 12.40pm.

After the first race was delayed by 35 minutes to allow for further thawing, another inspection took place and the meeting was subsequently cancelled half an hour after the opening race should have taken place with the track deemed unraceable.

Ludlow admitted a breach of rule (B) 46 relating to general instructions with which racecourses must comply. 

They state going descriptions “must relate to the state of the going at the time of inspection . . . not a forecast of likely going” and that a clerk of the course “must ensure, when informing any person or body, or answering enquiries into the likelihood of racing, that the situation is made absolutely clear” as to conditions and potential inspections.

The £1,750 fine agreed between the BHA and Ludlow through the fast-track procedure was half the £3,500 entry point for a breach of the rule, a point noted by presiding judicial panel member Gareth Graham.

He said: “In arriving at its proposed sanction, the BHA noted that the racecourse misled participants as to the suitability of the track on the day of the fixture, thus preventing participants from making their own decision as to whether they wish to run their horses and/or continue their journey to the track or not. 

“However, the BHA also noted that the breach relates solely to the inaccuracy of the first inspection report on the day of the meeting.”

Ludlow was fined a further £1,000 for a second admitted breach of rule (B) 46 due to the racecourse not storing CCTV footage of the stable yard for the mandated 60-day period.

It was discovered that Ludlow had been storing footage for only 21 days when a BHA investigator requested surveillance from February 27 “in connection with another investigation”, according to the disciplinary panel finding.

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Ludlow cancels its meeting on Thursday following second inspection held half an hour after racing was due to start

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