Fakenham Racecourse has cancelled a next race day due to ground conditions.
The course said its national hunt meeting today (February 17) was called off because the ground was too hard due to the unseasonably dry weather.
Fakenham has only had 6mm of rain over the past five weeks and the course cannot be irrigated until March 1. That is when the racecourse's licence to abstract water from a borehole, issued by the Environment Agency, starts.
David Hunter, racecourse chief executive and clerk, said: “We have not had any rain for weeks and consequently the ground has dried out and become too hard to allow safe racing to go ahead.
“Horse and jockey welfare always come first in racing, and it was for this reason that the meeting has been called off.
“It is a great shame as this meeting is always a very popular one, especially this year as it falls in the school half term, but I know our decision will have the full support of all those who want to come racing.”
Fakenham’s next race meeting is on March 17.
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