'It's impossible to predict whether or not we'll be able to race'

This weekend's valuable Sky Bet Sunday Series card at Haydock is under threat from waterlogging and is subject to an inspection at 7am on the day of racing.

A total of 33mm of rain has fallen on the track since last Sunday and the going was officially soft, heavy in places on Friday morning - with another further downpour forecast.

Clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright said: "We're fine and fit to race at the moment but there's about an inch of rain forecast tomorrow afternoon. We've got to get through that and take a decision at 7am on raceday.

"It's impossible to predict whether or not we'll be able to race. We're better than hopeful that the meeting will go ahead but we want to give everyone advance warning that there is a concern."

Sunday's Flat card carries £200,000 in prize money across seven races, each of which is due to be shown live on ITV4. It is part of an overall £1.2 million series, the third year of an industry-wide collaboration between ITV, Racecourse Media Group, and Sky Bet, aiming to showcase the sport in a Sunday twilight slot on terrestrial television during the summer.

The enhanced purses usually attract big fields and make for competitive betting across each meeting.

But the prospect of testing conditions appears already to have had an impact on Haydock. None of the seven races attracted a maximum field when declarations were made on Friday, with just five horses in the maiden and seven each in the nursery and the fillies' handicap.    

Wet weather has had a big impact on racing in recent days, turning the ground at Glorious Goodwood very soft and forcing the abandonment of Wednesday's meeting at Redcar. 

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