Late cancellation at Musselburgh leads to frustrated voices

Trainer Sandy Thomson was among those to voice their frustration after racing at Musselburgh was abandoned on Friday, less than 10 minutes before the first scheduled race.

A total of five inspections took place at the Scottish circuit due to frost, with two taking place on Thursday before further checks at 8am, 10.15am and midday on raceday.

Seven of the nine runners scheduled to go to post for the opening race were declared non-runners, with the remaining two already in the parade ring when racing was abandoned at around 12.20pm.

Thomson, who had already withdrawn Goodtimes Badtimes from the first race and had two other entries on the card, felt a decision could have been made earlier.

“The horse in the first has had leg problems and I wasn’t prepared to risk it. The other two horses were obviously here,” said the Berwickshire-based trainer.

“I run point-to-points and making decisions is not easy, but this just never looked like it was going to be on.

“I’m led to believe that if you have an inspection before two hours before the first race it is up to the racecourse. Once you get within two hours of the first race, the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) become involved.

“It seems ridiculous to me that the BHA stewards didn’t go out there at 10.30am and say ‘this is not raceable’.

“Making decisions is never easy, but in this day and age you have to call it early because everybody gets fed up.”

Thomson went on to voice further concerns about the overall state of jumps racing in the north, adding: “Racing needs to have a complete look at itself.

“We have this ridiculous decision where we know we’re short of staff and I appreciate we’re in the entertainment business, but we had a great day at Kelso on Sunday, plenty of people at Musselburgh on Monday and a good day at Ayr yesterday, so why do we have to be back at Musselburgh today and why are Newcastle allowed to race on a Saturday and allowed to put on races for £6,150? Then we’re back to Ayr on Monday.”

Lucinda Russell was prepared to run her horse Torosay in the first race and was sympathetic of the situation.

She told Racing TV: “I just think we’ve got to do what is right for the horses. I haven’t walked the whole way round, (but) if there’s any doubt they shouldn’t have it on.

“I think they’ve done the right thing. It is a pain in the neck for everyone to be here and the horses are tacked up and stuff, but at the end of the day we’ve got to do what’s right for them.

“I think when it’s so close like today – that was really on the edge of being OK, so you’ve got to give it every chance.

“Newcastle is abandoned tomorrow because it’s frozen and they obviously think it’s got no chance of getting better, so that’s right, but this had a chance.”

Leading jockey Sean Quinlan was part of the delegation that inspected the track for the final time at midday, along with the likes of former champion Brian Hughes and Henry Brooke.

He said: “My wife Lizzie (Quinlan) is obviously a trainer so we brought the horsebox up and got here about 11.15am.

“We went straight out (onto the track), some people were happy and some weren’t happy, so we decided to go and have an inspection.

“Henry Brooke, who had run the track at 10.30am, he went back out and said things had improved.

“Obviously they’ve given it every opportunity to improve. For these inspections we try to have all the stewards, three jockeys, three trainers and obviously the clerk of the course and the management.

“In the inquiry (it was said that) 80 per cent of the course was raceable. They’ve done a fantastic job and had it all covered, it’s just where they raced on New Year’s Day, where the bare patches were leaving the back straight and turning into the home straight, it was just frozen in places.

“If it had come off everyone would have been a hero, but it’s very frustrating, not just for us jockeys but for trainers, owners and everyone getting their horses here.

“Obviously owners are going to have to pay for their horses getting here and jockeys have driven here. We want to be racing every day so we have to get to the races and try to get racing on, but at some stage you’ve got to put safety first.”

Musselburgh’s general manager Bill Farnsworth said his team had put in an “enormous” effort in an attempt to get the meeting on.

“We’re very disappointed and we’re sorry for all the racegoers, owners, trainers, jockeys, stable staff and the racecourse staff,” he said.

“It’s disappointing for everybody, but the weather beat us in the end. Sadly the decision was taken by the stewards to abandon racing.

“We couldn’t fleece early yesterday morning because we’d had a frost overnight, so we had to wait until 2pm before we started fleecing. Everybody was out there putting a fleece on the track, so the amount of effort that has gone into trying to get this race meeting on has been enormous.

“I do feel really sorry for all the staff that have put so much into it, but that’s jump racing in the winter and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“It’s been a roller-coaster week with the weather and I suppose we were lucky to get New Year’s Day on – it was pretty atrocious conditions that day.

“We were very hopeful we would get today on, but there were professionals that felt there was frost in the ground, so that was the decision that was made.

“We gave it every chance and we always do at Musselburgh, if we think racing can go ahead. Probably 19 times out of 20 you get it right and occasionally you get it wrong.

“It was very close today, but it’s been abandoned and that’s it.”