Horse Racing World Witness Unforeseen Challenges Force Abandonment of ‘New Year’s Eve Fixture’

There’s nothing worse than the universe letting the horse racing fans down, especially something that the wrath of mother nature induced. Having amassed an equal number of followers as the most decorated Ascot Racecourse, the National Hunt racecourse in Uttoxeter has witnessed several histories being made. To end a year on a wonderful note, the Uttoxeter Racecourse hosts the most popular New Year’s Eve Day. But this year isn’t fortunate, it looks like.

Uttoxeter always gathers fan for a perfect year-ending extravaganza. The bookings are done from the website beforehand, and it’s bursting at the seams this time. But the early party starters have been met with the most disappointed announcement, a few hours away from the main event, owing to weather travails.

Harsh weather abandoned horse racing event

According to the Uttoxeter Racecourse’s X post, the caption has an unfortunate announcement. It says, “Due to heavy rainfall, we’ve had to unfortunately abandon our New Year’s Eve Fixture. The track is not raceable with standing water in places.” The post further reads, “We apologise for any inconvenience. All customers will be contacted via email”. Since the customers had booked their slots to cheer on their favorite equines beforehand, they deserved individual notifications. The governing body apologised and let the following plans known.

The racecourse, which witnessed several champions emerge, has also faced unfortunate events before. Right after the 1 mile 2½ furlongs establishment in 1921, the first race of the newly inaugurated arena had to be cancelled due to harsh weather conditions. Even in 2006, the racecourse saw an unanticipated fire break out, causing trouble for everyone present. For the longest time now, the track demanded safety measures. But the solution still stays suspended. In fact, a while ago, the transfer of two fixtures happened for a similar reason.

Two previous fixtures had also been transferred

From Uttoxeter to Ffos Las, the British Horseracing association confirmed the transfer of two fixtures on 3 November and 12 December. In need of a sufficient recovery time, the celebrated racecourse had to follow the request of the Arena Racing Company.

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Arena Racing Company’s Managing Director, Mark Spincer had said, “These moves create two breaks ahead of the Christmas period which will allow the Uttoxeter Grounds Team, working with our retained agronomist, time to undertake remedial work on those specific areas of the track.” But from the recent update, it is clear that the racecourse needs more work before any other racing event faces an uncalled for upset.

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