Newcastle hit by wet weather
Wednesday 27 June 2012
Friday's evening meeting at Newcastle, due to feature the Hoppings Stakes and the Gosforth Park Cup, has been abandoned due to unsafe ground.
Racing at the track on Thursday was also cut short following a huge thunderstorm.
The course had earlier passed an inspection after rain had turned conditions to heavy. Four races were completed but the runners for the fifth race were ordered to return to the parade ring as torrential rain returned. The parade ring was drenched, with leaks in the stewards' room, weighing room and jockeys' changing room.
Newcastle are due to hold the John Smith's Northumberland Plate, the track's Flat highlight of the season, on Saturday, with an assessment for that card due to be made on Friday.
Clerk of the course James Armstrong said: "We will take stock of what has been going on and see as regards what happens for Saturday. We will have to have a look at some point (on Friday) as to what we will do on Saturday.
"There are a multitude of things we need to assess. We just need to regroup and see what's going on."
Speaking after the abandonment of today's card, Armstrong had spoken of the need to "regroup", and said: "We've had over an inch of rain in 20 minutes. The stands aren't safe, it was an electrical storm and we only needed a shower to tip us over the edge.
"It was ridiculous to keep them (the runners for the fifth race) down at the start so we called them back and it was an easy decision to call it off. We've got major infrastructure issues away from the track."
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