Newbury races hit by big delays with rest of off times impacted after massive deluge hits track

3 months ago 25

NEWBURY races have been hit by big delays after a colossal deluge and thunder hammered the track.

The first race of their International Weekend was due off at 1.25pm.

a person in a black jacket is walking in the rain with umbrellas .

But the weather took an almighty turn for the worse with 5mm of rain falling in a matter of minutes.

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The runners were back out into the pre-parade ring at around 1.40pm with the first race scheduled off at 1.55pm.

Footage shared on social media showed drenched bookies running for cover from their stalls as the sky turned black.

The delay will have a knock-on effect to the rest of the eight-race card.

And it was anyone’s guess what the ground was truly like for the first, a 12-runner handicap over 6f.

A post from the racecourse on X read: “Horses are heading to the pre-parade ring with the intention of today’s racing commencing at 1:55pm.

“Following the delay, races will be run with shortened, 30 minute intervals.”

The first was finally off at 1.57pm – a full 32 minutes later than planned – and won by 3-1 Shameful, a horse whose pedigree suggested he would like softer ground.

Although Newbury bosses planned to make up the time between races it was not immediately clear what time the following contests would be off.

Punters might want to side with horses who like a bit of juice in the ground.

Especially as the turf looked to be kicking up as the horses got within the final furlong in the opener.

Winning jockey Jim Crowley elaborated on the state of the ground.

He said: “It’s on the soft side of good, the track has taken it very well.”

The going was officially changed from good to soft ahead of the second, which was meant to be off at 1.55pm but eventually got underway at 2.28pm.

The Met Office has issued weather warnings for large parts of England and Wales throughout Friday.

A threat of electrical activity in the air also caused play to be suspended at the BMW PGA Championship golf at Wentworth in Surrey, around 35 miles from Newbury racecourse.