Drama at Chester as racing continues after lengthy ground-related discussions

Racing at Chester on the second day of the high-profile May meeting was delayed by over an hour due to a course inspection

On ground that had been watered overnight, several jockeys reported they slipped during the first race on the card, a five-furlong handicap at 1.30 won by course specialist Roman Dragon. That led to a delay to the scheduled 2.05 contest.

Compounding the issue was some slipped on the final bend turning into the home straight while another area of concern was the bend after the winning line.

A delegation of officials, jockeys and trainers, including Hugo Palmer, Ryan Moore and Tom Marquand, duly took to the track to inspect the course, with the grass on the bend being cut shorter and sanded in an attempt to rectify the situation.

Following lengthy deliberations, it was announced just before 3pm that racing would continue. However, the William Haggas-trained Morshdi, one of the favourites for the Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes was immediately withdrawn, and Roger Varian took Rahiebb was taken out of the Ormonde Stakes.

Maureen Haggas, assistant to her husband, told ITV Racing: “We’ve taken him out because Tom (Marquand) is our jockey and he says it’s dangerous and he’s a nice horse.

“I value Tom’s opinion, we had a similar situation at Haydock last year when they went ahead and raced and our horse had a horrible fall.

“Tom is not happy and if you’re not happy you don’t ride with any conviction so there’s no point.

“It’s disappointing, but Morshdi has other options, it’s only May.”

Clerk of the course Eloise Quayle said: “The stewards enquired and after considering all the evidence we are going to carry on racing. The remedial works have been deemed acceptable to participants so we’re going to continue.

“There were a lot of different factors to consider that have all been taken into account and it has been decided it will continue.

“A number of the jockeys were happy and some were less happy. Not all the jockeys had ridden in the first race either and some don’t have rides in the next race so there were a lot of factors to consider.

“We had a horse slip in the first race on the bend and it was a very rough and very fast race with a lot of jostling for position. It was a five-furlong sprint doing 44mph round Chester with the added aspects of horses bumping and being slightly unbalanced. That was potentially going to be a factor, but there was no categorical evidence that it was necessarily ground related.”

She added: “We are going to get through the racing as quickly as possible while keeping it operationally safe.

“In racing there is always a danger, we will have to have another look but this is where we are at the moment.”