No weather worries at Newmarket with temperatures on the rise

Officials at Newmarket are not expecting any changes to the schedule at this week’s July Festival as large parts of Britain prepare for another heatwave.

A number of fixtures were abandoned two weeks ago in the interests of welfare for horses and participants amid soaring temperatures, while other meetings – including one on the July course – were given mid-morning start times to avoid racing during the hottest part of the day.

Temperatures are once again set to rise above 30C this week, but with no weather warnings currently in place, Newmarket’s clerk of the course Andrew Morris is not anticipating any significant problems ahead of the track’s three-day meeting.

He said: “Temperatures obviously show a fairly warm week and by the time we get to racing we could see 30C or 31C on Thursday, after which it possibly cools off slightly.

“There’s no weather warnings at the moment for our region so everything is just in planning as normal.

“There is the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) policy which is based around the MET office weather warnings and obviously there are various stages of that and what that means from a racecourse point of view, but at the moment we’re just planning ahead and making sure any contingencies are in place to ensure welfare is our number on priority.”

The BHA’s hot weather policy states that where racecourses fall within a red warning zone, the fixture will be abandoned. In addition, horses must not be travelled from or through areas that have red warnings in place.

Special measures will come into force at racecourses located in an amber heat warning area.