False start for Warwick - trainers angry at late decision to abandon races

Officials at Warwick came under fire last night after the meeting was called off with just two races taking place.

Trainers were angry that the seven-race card had to be abandoned because of false ground on the bend into the straight.

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The situation only became apparent an hour before racing was due to take place, suggesting the track had not been inspected thoroughly.

The area was looked at by a delegation of jockeys and deemed unsafe which meant that only the first two sprints were able to take place, the remaining races being over seven furlongs plus.

The 2,500 racegoers were refunded their entrance money, but trainers called for the costs of horse transport to be met by the course, which is owned by Jockey Club racecourses.

Together those costs could amount to more than £30,000.

John Maxse, spokesman for Jockey Club racecourses, said: "Our first priority is to establish how and why the situation came to pass. There were no reported problems at the last meeting 10 days ago."

Veteran trainer Milton Bradley said: "How ridiculous to have things happening like this. I left cheekpieces off one of my horses recently and got fined £130. Will they be giving us back our expenses?"

Mick Channon, who had three runners declared, said: "This sort of thing beggars belief. They can't wait to fine us if we cock up — let's see what happens here."

Richard Hannon agreed: "We do something wrong as trainers and we get fined."

Maxse added: "We'll deal with queries on costs to trainers once we've established what happened."