Racing chiefs set to stage jumps meeting at Ffos Las on Saturday in bid to avoid second weekend weather wipeout
RACING chiefs are hoping to avoid another Saturday without any jumps racing by staging a meeting in Wales this weekend.
The BHA have arranged a last-minute fixture at Ffos Las, where the track is currently raceable and the forecast for the weekend is favourable.
The additional fixture would be subject to 24 hour declarations, given the tight turnaround in getting the meeting on.
It will be a seven-race card with four hurdle races, two chases and a National Hunt Flat race.
Saturday’s big meeting at Warwick is almost certain to be abandoned, with the track currently frozen in places and an inspection planned for 8.30am on Thursday.
Wetherby have cancelled their Towton Chase fixture and the outlook for Kempton’s Lanzarote Hurdle card is also bleak, with the threat of snow and freezing temperatures in the south east.
But temperatures are likely to remain above freezing at Ffos Las on Friday and Saturday and they are set to fill the void, with the meeting set to be aired on ITV.
There will also be an additional all-weather meeting at Chelmsford, while the Grade 2 Towton has been re-routed from Wetherby to Ffos Las and will be the feature race this weekend.
Clerk of the course Tracey O’Meara said: “We meeting was programmed this afternoon and we will have a seven-race card.
“We look like we are going to be quite lucky with the forecast over the next few days, temperatures will be around seven degrees on Saturday.
“It wasn’t too difficult a process getting the meeting on from scratch. If we were racing today we’d have been good to go.
“As far as I’m aware entries will be made tomorrow and declarations on Friday morning.”
The BHA said: “Ffos Las was the only racecourse that felt it would be able to stage an additional Jump fixture on Saturday, with adverse weather conditions still having an impact across the country.”
Jumps racing has been decimated over the last week, with Newbury’s Thursday card and both Friday’s meetings at Huntingdon and Doncaster the latest to fall by the wayside.
Taunton, however, did go ahead on Wednesday where co-trainers Philip Hobbs and Johnson White enjoyed a treble.
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