Horse racing fans are now heading into the month of September on the back of an incredible summer which featured five heatwaves and give or take, three quarters of the United Kingdom being officially under drought conditions.
This has naturally effected racings return in the second half of 2026, and in typical UK fashion, weather warnings already seeing numerous areas of the country now being flooded, or at risk of flooding, given the more recent flip of the coin and heavy rainfall, will now pose problems of its own to grounds and meets in the next few weeks. For those who use the best betting sites, they may well want to look at the odds available for future cancellations right now as these problems are not going to be solved overnight until the weather stabilises.
One of the first casualties has been this months Bellewstown 300th anniversary, as on Thursday scheduled races were abandoned for the second day running over serious and significant safety concerns. Individual trainers had already taken a few decisions of their own – Constitution Hill’s Nicky Henderson to name one who pulled out of Windsor – but with the precipitation now hitting, a horse slipped on the bend in Bellewstown’s sixth race and they were left with very little option other than to cancel the remainder of the day’s action.
As horse racing regulars will know, on Tuesday the course’s Flat fixture needed to be halted and cancelled after only two races when Ireland’s champion jockey, Dylan Browne McMonagle, took a seriously heavy fall in the opening race and needed to be taken to hospital. The 23 year old County Donegal native will now be out for a number of weeks after the incident, but it was quickly confirmed that he was well and recovering fine after being assessed. With the second race obviously delayed, two further riders came down – Adam Caffrey and Ben Cohen – although both walked away unhurt, however, that was the end of the race card as the safety could not be risked further.
Wednesday’s action, which was over jumps at the anniversary festival, was initially cleared by officials following on from an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board preliminary investigation, and the day’s early races initially passed without incident, until the latter horse slipped. A stewards inquiry heard that Garrick Painter, being ridden by Simon Torrens, slipped up approximately four furlongs from home, and the jockey had confirmed contact with the horse on his inside, but stated that the cause of the fall had been the ground moving from underneath his mount, causing the slip up.
Having reviewed the footage of this incident, and then met with a delegation of Riders, the IHRB Clerk of the Course, the Racecourse Manager and representatives of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association for their considered observations, it was sensibly determined that a continuation of the day’s activities could not take place in a satisfactory manner when safety concerns remained a paramount risk. Reluctantly, the provisions of Rule 10 were the only option.
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