Hamilton Park 'put horse and hockey welfare' first as they abandon race

Hamilton Park Race Course was forced to abandon a race and delay two others on Tuesday, over safety fears on the track.

After jockeys complained about horses slipping on the bend an investigation was held, and a decision made to abandon race five on the schedule, which was the only remaining one to be run round the bend, and continue with the final two on the card.

Concerns were first raised during the second race at 1.45pm, but the meeting continued as scheduled after the area was verti-drained and sanded.

However, concerns surfaced again after the 2.45 feature race was won by Austrian Theory. Following interviews with trainers and jockeys by stewards, the 3.15 was scrubbed from the schedule.

The final two races were run after a 30-minute delay to allow further work to be done on the course.

A post on social media by Hamilton Park yesterday afternoon read: "Following the inspection of the straight at Hamilton Park, races six and seven will go ahead 30 minutes later than scheduled.

"Race six will now be 4.20 and race seven will now be 4.55."

An update read: "Unfortunately the fifth race on today's card will not be going ahead, due to weather and ground conditions on the bend.

"The sixth race will be at 4.30pm, with the last race at 4.55pm. Thank you for your patience."

Clerk of the course Harriet Graham said: "The jockeys reported, and it was obvious, that horses had slipped on the bend.

"We had good to firm ground and a tiny bit of rain in the morning, but after much consultation with trainers and jockeys we decided to abandon the mile and a half race [race five, 3.15], but to run the other two races. Everyone was confident to carry on with that.

"It’s obviously not what we wanted to happen, but it’s just circumstances