Siren and warning lights at French tracks make Sandown scenario unlikely

With the BHA's procedures for voiding races under increased scrutiny following the controversial conclusion to the London National at Sandown last Saturday, officials may be turning to other racing jurisdictions to compare best practice.

The French Code des Courses gives stewards fairly broad scope for stopping a race "in exceptional circumstances", with a combination of a siren and warning lights for alerting riders having now been in use at all the leading tracks for more than ten years.

Article 172 of the rule book devotes considerable space to the circumstances in which a stopped race can be re-run later on the same card or else rescheduled, but is notably light on details when it comes to sanctions against jockeys being slow to react to the stop signal.