Newmarket event to go ahead as planned say organiser

Organisers of this year's 32Red-sponsored Newmarket open weekend are hopeful it will be "business as usual" at next month's annual event, despite a report to the contrary in a national newspaper yesterday.

Concerns over the recent virus that has hit some yards at headquarters has led to uncertainty over which, if any, stables will be open to the public at the popular event which was resurrected in 2012 after a 15-year break. A report in The Times claimed the open-morning element of the weekend had been cancelled.

However, Sara Cumani, chair of the Newmarket open weekend committee, said yesterday: "We all know Newmarket is having its issues with a virus which impacts on some stables and not others, but we're hopeful it will be business as usual at the Open Weekend.