Kempton postpones jumps start again due to unsafe ground conditions

The Jockey Club has announced the abandonment of next Monday’s National Hunt meeting at Kempton, with track officials still unable to achieve the safe ground conditions required for National Hunt racing.

The Sunbury venue was due to kick off its jumps season on Sunday 18 October, but that card was called off following the prolonged dry spell and there has been no significant improvement in the past two weeks.

Kempton’s next scheduled National Hunt fixture is on Monday 23 November and clerk of the course Barney Clifford is praying for rain between now and then.

He said: “It’s disappointing for everybody really, but we are in a drought situation.

“The ground is firm, good to firm in places. We had 56mm of rain last weekend, which didn’t really make a lot of difference. We’ve been irrigating since 25 June and we just need some help and some natural rainfall.

“I’d be hopeful for 23 November because there is rain on the forecast from 10 November onwards. We haven’t had any rainfall really, even for the whole month of October we only had 56mm, so it’s unprecedented.”

Following Kempton’s abandonment, the British Horseracing Authority later confirmed an additional fixture will take place next Monday at Stratford, with entries closing at 12pm on Tuesday.

The BHA said in a statement: “We are grateful to the Horserace Betting Levy Board for their support funding the fixture and to Stratford for agreeing to host.

“We continue to work with racecourses and participants to assess the race programme and add in appropriate opportunities wherever possible.”