Heavy overnight rain forces Southwell abandonment

This afternoon's National Hunt meeting at Southwell has been abandoned due to a waterlogged track.

No problems had been anticipated before 7am but an impromptu inspection was called for 7.30am.

Further rain had left areas of standing water on the track and clerk of the course Roderick Duncan was left with no option but to call the meeting off.

He said: "It's still raining heavy now and with waterlogged areas we were left with no option.

"We've ended up with a lot more than was forecast. The worst forecasts were predicting anything between five to 10 millimetres but we've had upwards of 20 now.

"Outside of when the course has been completely flooded I've never seen areas of standing water on the track where we have them now. That shows how high the water table is."

Leicester's first Flat meeting of the season on Friday must survive a 7.45am inspection on Wednesday.

Parts of the track are already waterlogged in places which has resulted in false patches of ground.

The going is already described as heavy and there has been a further 11 millimetres of rain overnight.

With the forecast for the rest of the week unsettled, officials felt it prudent to take an early look.

Unfortunately Nottingham's first Flat meeting of the season, set to feature a classy renewal of the totepool Barry Hills Further Flight Stakes, was also beaten by the rain.

A 9am precautionary inspection was called on Monday with the ground already heavy and clerk of the course Jane Hedley warned the track could not take much more.

Following a further 12 millimetres overnight, it was an easy decision.

A tweet from the racecourse read: "Very sadly we have been forced to ABANDON tomorrows fixture. 12mm rain overnight on top of ground which was already heavy has left us with a track which is completely saturated, with some areas of standing water and false patches."