Haydock Park issued an apology on Tuesday after being compelled to cancel two race meetings scheduled for Friday and Saturday this week, following a significant disruption during last Saturday's major ITV card. The high-profile event, which featured two key Royal Ascot sprint trials, was marred by the emergence of a hole on the outer stretch of its two Flat tracks.
Incident During First Race
Racing was delayed for 90 minutes as officials conducted inspections to determine whether the meeting could continue. The John and Thady Gosden-trained Friendly Soul was pulled up after stumbling during the first race, prompting a closer examination that revealed an elbow-deep hole in the surface near the 2f pole.
As a result, stewards abandoned three races on the round course and permitted the sprint races to be transferred to the inner track, which had already been used for racing on two previous days.
Quick Turnaround and Inspection
Haydock faced a swift turnaround with two more meetings scheduled for Friday and Saturday. However, with the outer track out of action, an inspection on Tuesday was necessary to assess whether the inner course would again be suitable for racing.
Haydock posted a statement: “Fixtures scheduled to take place on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th May have been cancelled following today’s inspection of the inner course. We had hoped to stage this weekend’s fixtures on the inner track after a hole appeared on the outer track during racing last Saturday. However, given the three days of racing already staged on the inner track in recent days, the ground will not have the chance to recover to an acceptable standard for racing this weekend.”
Next Steps and Investigations
The statement continued: “We are working with the BHA around next steps for the rescheduling of Friday and Saturday’s races and the BHA will issue further updates on this in due course. We are sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause to participants and racegoers.”
External drainage specialists and agronomists are on site at Haydock Park today, and investigations continue into the cause of the hole that appeared on the outer track during racing on Saturday 23rd May.
