York To Inspect Ahead Of Saturday

Officials at York will inspect the course at 4.15pm this afternoon to assess prospects of racing on Saturday.

Friday´s meeting was abandoned early this morning, with standing water covering the track following intense showers that saw over an inch of rain fall in a six-hour spell.

Officials were left with no option but to abandon, yet clerk of the course William Derby has not given up hope of racing taking place on the Knavesmire this weekend.

'It´s awful but it´s due to clear around lunchtime today so we´re inspecting later on ahead of Saturday,' he explained.

'We´ll just have to keep our fingers crossed and keep everyone posted.'

The £100,000 William Hill Trophy features on a competitive seven-race Saturday card, on which racing is scheduled to start at 2.10pm.

However, Derby explained conditions will need to improve markedly if the track is to avoid being beaten by the weather two days in a row.

'We´ve had a huge volume of water ? 30mm since 1am this morning and that´s more rain than we would have expected in the whole month of June,' he explained.

'It´s still raining now and both swathes of the Knavesmire and all the roads have got water on them. It´s not just one particular patch ? it´s everywhere.'

Friday´s abandonment was earlier confirmed by a spokesperson for the track.

Explaining the problem, she said: 'We´ve had over an inch of rain in the last six hours and unfortunately there is now standing water on the course.'

(C) PA Sport