Newton Abbot left counting cost after Thursday's meeting joins casualty list

Newton Abbot's boss blamed a wet autumn and not the amount of track watering after Thursday's meeting became the third in a row to be lost to waterlogging.

The Devon track's final scheduled fixture of the year was cancelled after a 4pm inspection on Tuesday, bringing the number lost this year to four.

Managing director Pat Masterson said courses were under "enormous pressure" to provide suitable ground for summer jumping but was happy with the amount put on the track in drier spells.

He said: “The weather plays an important part in racing and these are rough times for us. We’ve had 170 millimetres of rain this month after 125mm in September. We also got four and a half inches a day before another of our fixtures in June.

“Running a small racecourse is very, very difficult. I seem to be changing my budgets every day. You need everything going for you. We can’t afford to lose one meeting, let alone four, but you learn over the years that you’ve just got to get on with it.”

Masterson, who has been at Newton Abbot for 30 years, said: “We lost five meetings in 2012. That was horrendous, and a record year for abandonments in Britain.

“Whenever you lose a fixture you lose sponsors and corporate hospitality. Somebody may have hired a box for the day for a big celebration – it’s the hardest thing in the world to ring them up and say we’re not racing.

Nicky Henderson: 'It’s so frustrating for everyone to lose all those meetings”Credit: Edward Whitaker

“Racing isn’t like football where you can reschedule the match for the following week. It’s very frustrating.”

Most of Newton Abbot’s meetings come during the summer months when watering the ground is necessary to comply with BHA objectives on producing safe ground for jumping.

Masterson does not believe that over-watering has contributed to the spate of abandonments.

“I don’t subscribe to the theory of over-watering,” he said. “In the current climate you are under enormous pressure to produce safe ground for summer jumping.

“I have a great team of groundstaff here, many of whom have been with us for a long time. We all know the track.

“We’ve had record levels of rainfall in October, which is the reason for the lost meetings; it’s as simple as that.”

Trainer Nicky Henderson, who enjoys sending runners to Newton Abbot, said: “I feel very sorry for Pat and the team at Newton Abbot.

“The amount of rain we’ve had lately is crazy. It’s so frustrating for everyone to lose all those meetings.”

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