News Bangor 'relatively pessimistic' about Friday fixture

Bangor 'relatively pessimistic' about Friday fixture

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The prospects for racing at Bangor on Friday hinge on an inspection at 8am on Thursday due to the threat of waterlogging.

Both chase and hurdles courses are heavy, waterlogged in places, but the forecast for the next couple of days is for dry weather which should aid their cause.

Clerk of the course Andrew Morris is hoping that will allow the high river levels to drop, but at this stage he is "relatively pessimistic" because of the sheer volume of water.

"We had a wet weekend and then had 11 millimetres of rain on Monday and six millimetres last night," he said.

"The biggest issue we have had since December is the volume of water. The ditches and river levels are so high that the water has no chance to get away.

"We have got two dry days ahead of us which is great. The problem is we need the river level to drop to allow the drainage system to work.

"I'd be relatively pessimistic because of the volume of water that has to go, but equally if the river level does drop it will go fairly quickly."

Saturday's meeting at Uttoxeter is also in doubt and is subject to an inspection at 8am on Thursday as well.

With the going at the Staffordshire circuit described as heavy, waterlogged in places, the two chases have already been abandoned, leaving five hurdles races, of which at least one will be divided, if the fixture survives.

Clerk of the course Charlie Moore said: "We need some luck as we are still waterlogged in places and it's not improving that rapidly. It's dry at the moment, but it's not drying as much as we would like at this stage. We'll have a look at 8am and see whether there's any future for the meeting.

"To give us the best chance we now have an all-hurdle card.

"We're not programming any new races, but we'll divide whichever race, or races, have the highest number of runners after declarations."