This weekend’s Derby and Oaks Trials at Lingfield will be run on the all-weather track after course officials made the early decision to abandon all the turf races on Friday and Saturday’s cards.
The Surrey circuit has been hit by some substantial rainfall over the weekend, leaving the turf course waterlogged in places.
With more rain on the way, clerk of the course Neil Mackenzie Ross feels it is sensible to make an early switch to the all-weather and he is hopeful the two Classic trials will remain competitive after speaking to some trainers.
“We had a wet weekend. We had another 10 millimetres of rain and that falling on already saturated ground has left us waterlogged in places,” Mackenzie Ross said.
“We’re forecast to get up to another inch of rain on Wednesday and there is no way the turf course will be raceable.
“I think making an early decision to switch to the all-weather lets everyone know where they stand and having spoken to the connections of quite a few of the horses entered in the Oaks and Derby trials, there has been great support.”
Mackenzie Ross confirmed that while the entries for Friday’s races would stand, Saturday’s entries would be reopened.
