RACING has been abandoned at Salisbury just an hour before the first – with ‘areas of concern’ on the track amid a severe rain warning.
An inspection was called at 12.45pm ahead of the seven-race card which saw Ryan Moore set to feature as the headline act.
But after being hit with 16mm of rain and with another 15mm likely this afternoon the decision was taken to pull the plug ahead of the first race at 2.20pm.
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Jeremy Martin, clerk of the course at Salisbury, said: “We could be looking at up to 40mm of rain today.
“The vast majority of the racecourse was raceable an hour ago, but the track has a lot of undulations and the main issue was in the low points, water was starting to pond.
“The volume of water is starting to create false ground.
“I’ve been here 24 years and I have never known a raceday like this. We just couldn’t cope. It’s very unusual.”
Unfortunately for punters it meant a very appealing Moore double would have to wait for another day.
The top jockey was on for the debut of 10-11 Frankel colt Dissident, owned by Juddmonte and trained by Ralph Beckett.
And he was due to ride Kingman filly Tabiti, who was 15-8, and racing for the second time after a hugely promising debut win.
A post from the racecourse read: “Racing abandoned. Areas of waterlogged ground after 18mm rain at 12.45pm. Another 12-15 mm forecast during the afternoon.”
With racing off it means all bets placed will be voided.
Torrential rain hammered the Wiltshire track through the morning.
And the horrid weather came at the worst time, with the racecourse hosting its most valuable fixture of the year.
That included the Ire-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes, a Group 3 over 6f worth almost £30,000 to the winner.
Tabiti – who had been napped by Templegate as his best bet of the day – was warm favourite to win.
While the rest of the card is lost that race could be rescheduled to next Friday, September 13.
Salisbury’s decision to abandon comes as a yellow weather warning for rain covers much of the south of England.
Officials warned that flooding, transport disruption and power cuts are all possible.
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