Hexham confident it will survive despite spring and summer wipeout

Hexham has been left reeling by the loss of two-thirds of its 2020 meetings after the BHA cancelled jump racing until July.

But racecourse manager Robert Whitelock vowed that the track will survive the blow and hopes the course will get extra cards in the summer – otherwise its first fixture of the year will not be until September.

He said: "We had to abandon our first meeting because of high wind. We were due to race on March 24 but the BHA pulled the plug the week before that. They've said jump racing will not resume before July 1, so we'll have lost nine fixtures, which represents two-thirds of our 15 meetings.