Jumps action back with a bang as Taunton stages biggest ever race

After a blank two days jump racing is set to resume at Taunton on Thursday, with the rescheduled Grade 2 Peterborough Chase becoming the biggest and most valuable race to be staged at the track.

Taunton clerk of the course Jason Loosemore is thrilled at the quality on offer in the £50,000 feature – transferred from Huntingdon after its cancellation last Sunday – and said: “It’s a cracking race and the most valuable we’ve ever had.

“We have a Listed race ourselves, but nothing of this calibre. It’s brilliant news for Taunton. We’ve five lovely runners and it should be a great race.

“The going is good to soft, good in places, but that's likely to ease a bit with some rain forecast.”

The Peterborough Chase restaging is great news for Taunton, whose planned £115,000 Betfair-backed raceday in January 2013 – which would have been their richest raceday ever – was lost due to snow. Thursday's eight-race card surpasses that total by £1,000.

Warwick officials, who held two inspections on Wednesday, finally abandoned the meeting early on Thursday morning due to no improvement overnight and patches of snow remaining on already heavy ground.

Thursday’s meeting at Newcastle was also cancelled due to frost.

The ground at Tramore in advance of its meeting on Thursday was described as heavy, with no inspection planned, while there are no inspections planned for meetings later in the week in Britain or Ireland, though the BHA announced two additional fixtures.

Chelmsford will stage an all-weather fixture on Sunday, while Musselburgh will host a jumps meeting on Monday. Entries for both cards close at noon on Thursday.

Five things you may not know about Taunton . . .

1 Rooster Booster’s first victory came at Taunton in January 2000

2 Martin Pipe sent out his first winner, Hit Parade, at Taunton in May 1975

3 Opened in 1927, Taunton is the youngest jumps course in Britain

4 Sir Anthony McCoy has a stand named in his honour at the track

5 Hunt Ball won a handicap chase there in April 2013 off a mark of 155 after finishing fourth at the Cheltenham Festival

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