Hamilton forced to abandon race and delay others as unsafe ground woes return

Tuesday: Hamilton

Hamilton was forced to abandon one race on its Tuesday card and delay two others after jockeys complained of horses slipping on the bend.

Concerns were first raised during the second race on the card (1.45), but the fixture continued as planned after the problem area was verti-drained and sanded.

However, the issue surfaced again after Austrian Theory had won the feature 1m½f handicap at 2.45 and an inspection was called.

Jockey William Buick, who struck on a rare visit to the track on Refuge in the 5f handicap, and trainer Mark Johnston, who with son Charlie enjoyed a double, were among those to be interviewed by the stewards, after which the decision was made to call off the fifth race at 3.15 – the only race left to be run round the bend – and continue with the final two races on the card.

Those final two races were both subject to a half-hour delay to the advertised start times to allow further work to take place on the straight course to ensure safe ground.

Clerk of the course Harriet Graham said: “The jockeys reported, and it was obvious, that horses had slipped on the bend. We had good to firm ground and a tiny bit of rain in the morning, but after much consultation with trainers and jockeys we decided to abandon the mile and a half race [race five, 3.15], but to run the other two races. Everyone was confident to carry on with that.

“It’s obviously not what we wanted to happen, but it’s just circumstances with the weather. It has not happened previously in the three years I’ve been here. We had verti-drained it and sanded it and then after the first race we put more sand on and verti-drained again, but the jockeys weren’t confident to ride on it and you have to put horse and jockey welfare at the front of this.”

Racing suffered a spate of abandonments in May due to similar ground concerns, with meetings at Chester, Haydock, Beverley and Lingfield all forced to either end their cards prematurely or call off certain races.

Read more on this subject:

Haydock hands out compensation after surface forces abandonment of Friday card

'It's incredibly disappointing' - Chester abandons card due to safety concerns

'They need to be fined' - tracks slammed as unsafe ground woes hit Lingfield

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