Exeter's season opener moved to Warwick due to hard ground

Next week's jumps meeting at Exeter has been transferred to Warwick after a significant lack of rain has left the course with hard ground.

Officials planned an inspection on Monday to assess the track's condition before their season opener next Thursday, but despite 12.6mm of rainfall in the last week, the course was deemed unfit for racing on Saturday.

The six-race card has been switched to Warwick, which like the Devon track is owned by Jockey Club Racecourses.

Exeter's clerk of the course Daniel Cooper said: "We've had minimal rain. We had an extremely dry summer and although it was a wet day yesterday, that quantity was not enough to turn firm ground into raceable ground.

"When we say firm, it's borderline hard, which we're not allowed to run on. It's effectively an easy decision as it isn't in a raceable state.

"I called a Monday morning inspection to see if the forecast rain had done enough to the track. It transpired on Saturday morning the rain hadn't done anywhere near that.

"Thankfully Warwick is available to take it and with horse and jockey welfare in mind, we thought the best decision was to send it there."

Exeter has no permanent watering facilities and like many courses, suffered effects from the heatwaves and prolonged dry weather in the summer, which left Cooper with an easier decision to make.

"It comes as no surprise. We had as widely reported a dry, prolonged period of drought effectively," he added.

"There's no facilities for watering, but in the spring we would usually have access to storm water from the previous winter. Clearly after the dry summer, that doesn't exist."

The track's next fixture is scheduled for October 18 before their flagship Haldon Gold Cup card on November 4, but Cooper is confident the track will be able to host those meetings.

Exeter's card switch also follows Ludlow's meeting next Wednesday coming under threat due to a severe lack of rain.

The going at the Shropshire track is currently firm, hard in places with an inspection to be held at 10am on Sunday.

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