Fears quickly extinguished ahead of big Newbury card

No course welcomes the arrival of bomb disposal officers but Newbury officials were able to laugh off a scare on the eve of the Betfair Hurdle meeting.

The alarm was raised after a suspect object was discovered on the David Wilson Homes development site.

Newbury head of communications Andy Clifton said: "During the construction work that is going on down the far end of the site, they came across what looked like it could have been an unexploded bomb.

"We obviously called the police and set up a little exclusion zone and the bomb disposal squad came along and took the suspect object away. It turns out it was an old fire extinguisher."

The incident had no effect on efforts to ready the track for Saturday's card.

Newbury Saturday card

Clifton said: "It was in a construction area near the five-furlong start, well away from the stands, so it didn't make any difference to our preparations for tomorrow.

"Fortunately it turned into an amusing little sidenote but if it had been an unexploded bomb it could have taken up a fair bit more of our time."