Racing'shopes lie on sand

The British Horseracing Board yesterday moved to guarantee racecourse action in Britain this Saturday afternoon by sanctioning an extra all- weather fixture at Wolverhampton. The track is already hosting an evening meeting that day but will now stage a six-race card beginning at 12.55pm and ending at 3.25pm before racing resumes under floodlights at 7pm.

Today is the third successive blank day for racing, and tomorrow's fixtures are also likely to succumb to the weather.

The BHB has approved two new races, both limited handicaps, for Cheltenham on Monday designed to attract horses that would have run in Kempton's Christmas Hurdle and Wetherby's Castleford Chase.

However, the Welsh National will not be transferred to Newbury on Saturday as that card is also likely to be abandoned.