Long dry spell forces Ludlow to scrap its first card of the autumn

Ludlow's first autumn fixture on Wednesday has been called off as a severe lack of rain has left the course too quick.

The seven-race meeting, which attracted just 54 entries, was cancelled on Sunday despite sustained watering taking place at the Shropshire track.

The water table level is extremely low after an arid summer and the course is unable to top up its reservoir with water from rivers due to restrictions on extraction amounts.

Clerk of the course Simon Sherwood said: "There's a lot of firm there and it isn't good for welfare to be racing on that type of ground.

"It's been on the cards from a while ago that we were struggling. We're in a very dry period and there's only so much you can manufacture, 80 per cent of it has got to come from nature.

"We're on gravel and it's like a water trough which at the moment is empty and we can only fill it up to half full with irrigation."

Ludlow: Hope to race on October 20Credit: Edward Whitaker

Ludlow's next fixture is due to take place on October 20 and Sherwood is mindful of having enough water for that meeting.

"We're actually forecast an inch of rain on what would have been raceday on Wednesday," he said.

"We've just got to replenish our stocks and hit it hard and hope we have enough capacity to get us through."

Ludlow's Wednesday card

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