Horse racing at Wolverhampton abandoned after red heat warning issued

Tuesday's event at Wolverhampton Racecourse was called off after the Met Office issued a Red extreme heat warning, when temperatures are expected to reach 35C at the track.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has confirmed five abandoned meetings across the country where the courses fall either within the warning area or are situated nearby. The BHA said fixtures should not go ahead due to the wellbeing of human and equine participants, as well as owners, staff and customers.

The 'Summer Evening Racing' meeting at Wolverhampton is one of those to be called off. Customers who had bookings will be contacted by the organisers.

Mark Spincer, Managing Director of ARC’s Racing Division and responsible for Windsor, Southwell and Wolverhampton, said: “We fully support the decision to abandon the fixtures scheduled to take place on our racecourses on Monday and Tuesday.

“We have been in close dialogue with colleagues at the BHA throughout this period of warmer weather and have been operating with a number of resources in place to assist horses and people working on our racecourses.

"Whilst we had taken steps to mitigate against the higher temperatures initially forecast for Monday and Tuesday, including moving Southwell’s race times to earlier in the day, the latest updates from the Met Office and the alerts issued this morning made it clear that it was within the best interests of all concerned to abandon these fixtures.

“We will be in touch with all customers who had bookings to these race meetings shortly, and our thanks goes to the BHA team for acting swiftly in changing circumstances.”

The Met Office issued its first ever red warning for extreme heat - warning of a 'potentially very serious situation' in parts of England, with forecasters saying there is an 80 per cent chance of the mercury topping the UK's record temperature of 38.7C (101.7F) set in Cambridge in 2019.

The peak of the heatwave is expected on Tuesday.

Five race meetings in total have been abandoned - Beverley and Windsor on Monday, July 18, and Chelmsford City, Southwell and Wolverhampton on Tuesday, July 19.

Richard Wayman, the BHA’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “The BHA’s number one priority in the staging of any meeting is the wellbeing of all involved, human and equine.

"Following the issuing of the first ever extreme heat warning by the Met Office, we are taking sensible precautions and have made a decision as soon as possible in order to provide certainly for those impacted.”