Floodlight failure at Newcastle forces final two races to be abandoned

The final two races of Newcastle’s all-weather card were abandoned on Wednesday after three floodlight pillars failed.

The failure left a dark area across the track around a furlong from the finish which was deemed unsafe to run through, resulting in the final two 7f handicap races, due to go off at 4.00 and 4.30, being cancelled.

James Armstrong, clerk of the course at Newcastle, announced the abandonment 40 minutes after the penultimate race of the day was due to run.

“We switched the lights on as we always do, ten to 15 minutes before required, and all of them came on bar three pillars,” Armstrong told Sky Sports Racing.

“We can’t resolve whether it’s our fault or an electric fault until we know more. It’s frustrating for all the connections of the runners for the last two races and I couldn’t sympathise with them more, but we’ve tried all we can in the time we’ve got.

“We have a race meeting tomorrow night where the last race is under floodlit conditions, so we need to get it fixed ASAP and we’ll keep everyone posted as and when we know more.”

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