Major race meeting cancelled due to ‘unraceable’ track

The Sky Bet Sunday Series at Ayr Racecourse has been cancelled with the track being deemed ‘unraceable’.

Ayr was preparing to host their first flat meeting of 2026, with £200,000 made available across the seven races.

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The meeting in Scotland was going to be broadcast live on ITV on Sunday, April 26, but now it won’t be going ahead at all.

Ayr Racecourse confirmed in a statement on X: “We’re sorry to announce the abandonment of our Sky Bet Sunday Series fixture.

“Despite racing over jumps this weekend, our Flat track is currently unraceable after a long spell of poor weather and the decision’s been taken after full consultation with the BHA [British Horseracing Association].

“After the abandonment of our Sky Bet Sunday Series fixture scheduled for next SUNDAY, April 26, anyone who has bought £5 advance tickets for the day will be entitled to a full refund or, be able to offset the £5 against future ticket purchases.

“Any further decision on any rescheduling of our abandoned Sky Bet Sunday Series meeting scheduled for next Sunday, April 26, will be taken by the BHA in consultation with Sky Bet and ITV Racing.”

They also made a statement on their website confirming the news.

The racecourse stated that the decision was taken to cancel before the entry stage for the meeting and to ‘give everyone as much notice as possible of the fixture’s abandonment’.

Ayr Racecourse previously had to abandon some major racing action in 2017, with that year’s Gold Cup meeting cancelled.

It had to be called off due to a waterlogged area of the track that did not improve enough overnight the day before the event.

Extreme measures were taken to try and dry the course out, with officials flying a helicopter over the area, but to no avail.

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Multiple cancellations

Ayr have been forced to cancel their Sky Bet Sunday Series meeting just a day after hosting the Scottish Grand National.

But it is not the only racecourse to have abandoned a meeting with immediate effect, after Brighton was cancelled last week.

Ahead of a Saturday card, a decision was announced on Thursday to call off the meeting due to ‘damage to the racing surface’.

123 horses had been entered for the seven races, but following an inspection, the action could not go ahead.

In a statement, Brighton Racecourse said: “Unfortunately, the opening fixture of the 2026 season at Brighton Racecourse on Saturday 18th April has been abandoned this morning (April 16th) due to damage to the racing surface.

“The areas of concern were being well managed by our ground staff team ahead of the meeting through treatment to the track which had a positive and encouraging effect.

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“We had also arranged movement of running rail lines and reduced the field size limits to counter the issues.

“However, the situation has worsened significantly overnight on Wednesday to the extent that there are now damaged areas on the track that cannot be avoided.

“Safety always comes first, and therefore we have been left with no option but to abandon the race meeting with the approval of the British Horseracing Authority Inspector of Courses.

“We are bitterly disappointed that our efforts have been in vain and would like to apologise for the inconvenience.”