The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) can confirm the transfer of the three Turf races scheduled to take place on the round course at Lingfield Park on Saturday 29 June to the track’s All-Weather surface.
Due to ongoing issues with Lingfield’s watering system, the round course is currently unable to be watered and the BHA Racecourse Inspectorate have deemed that part of the track to be unfit for racing without the ability to apply water.
As a result, the Truelove Trophy Handicap (Class 5, 3yo+, 1m1f), Get Raceday Ready Handicap (Class 6, 3yo+, 1m 2f) and the EWI Pro Handicap (Class 6, 4yo+, 1m 5f) will all be moved to the All-Weather surface. Additionally, the Truelove Trophy Handicap will now be run over 1m, rather than the 1m 1f, due to the available starting locations on the All-Weather.
The straight course is still able to be watered, so all races on the straight course will remain as originally published.
Stephanie Wethered, Clerk of the Course at Lingfield Park, said:
“Due to a loss of water pressure at our local pump house, we have encountered issues with our ability to irrigate the whole track at Lingfield Park in advance of Saturday evening’s fixture. The recent hot weather has seen significant evapotranspiration across the course, which has lost nearly 20mm of moisture in the last week, 3.5mm of which in the last 24 hours.
“As such, our efforts have been focussed on the straight Turf course, to ensure that we can provide safe ground for those races scheduled to take place on that surface on Saturday.
“We anticipate this to be a temporary issue that should not impact on any fixtures scheduled beyond this weekend, including Tuesday 2 July.
“Our thanks to colleagues at BHA for facilitating the switch of the three round course races to our All-Weather surface ahead of declarations, which take place tomorrow morning.”
Notes to editors:
1. For further information please contact the BHA Racing Department on 0207 152 0050 or via [email protected].