This page will let you know the horse racing cancelled today, tomorrow and the coming weekend – with the weather often playing a big part if a fixture can go ahead or not.
There are always more horse racing meetings abandoned between the months of October and March, with the main reason for fixtures being called off surrounding the weather.
You can also keep up-to-date with all the upcoming ITV Racing schedule here.
Horse Racing Cancelled Today and Tomorrow
Here are the upcoming horse racing meetings and you can see if any are cancelled due to the weather or any other reason.
Today’s Horse Racing Meetings
Despite Storm Eowyn impacting the UK and Ireland ALL today’s race meetings have reported NO ISSUES
Tuesday 28th Jan 2025
- Chepstow – Inspection passed – Racing goes ahead
- Limerick (Ire)
- Newcastle (AW) & (NH, Turf)
- Wolverhampton (AW)
Tomorrow’s Horse Racing Meetings
Wednesday 29th Jan 2025
- Leicester – *Abandoned*
- Exeter – *Abandoned*
- Kempton (AW)
- Dundalk (AW)
Thursday 30th Jan 2025
- Wincanton
- Ffos Las – *Abandoned*
- Chelmsford (AW)
- Southwell (AW)
Friday 31st Jan 2025
- Catterick
- Lingfield
- Newcastle (AW)
- Southwell (AW)
Horse Racing Cancelled This Weekend
Saturday 1st Feb 2025
- Sandown – Inspection 8am Thursday (hurdles course)
- Wetherby
- Musselburgh
- Newcastle (AW)
- Wolverhampton (AW)
- Leopardstown (Ire)
Note: If the hurdles course is deemed unraceable on Thursday at Sandown – they will move to an all-chase card.
You can also see the full Dublin Racing Festival schedule, race times and names here.
Sunday 2nd Feb 2025
- Musselburgh
- Lingfield (AW)
- Leopardstown (Ire)
You can see the full ITV Racing schedule for this week here.
Why Is Horse Racing Cancelled?
There are many reasons why horse racing can be cancelled – but the more common is due to the weather.
Horse racing can be called off at any time of the year – even in the summer months it’s been known for some fixtures to be abandoned due to bad weather. While some are even cancelled if the weather is too hot.
However, by far the most common months for horse racing to be cancelled in the UK and Ireland are between October and March – the winter months when there is more rain, snow and colder weather about that can also freeze the track.
Tracks that are also near to rivers are prone to flooding more easily if there is a lot of rain and they burst their banks.
Waterlogged, Snow and Frozen Tracks The Most Common Reasons For Horse Racing Being Cancelled
If there’s been a lot of rain, then most horse racing tracks will operate on soft or heavy ground and if there’s been a lot of the ‘wet stuff’, then tracks can also become waterlogged.
Then as the year moves into winter and colder months between December, January and February a lot of tracks have to battle with freezing temperatures and even snow.
These low temperatures will freeze the ground and make horse racing unraceable and even though the some of the more premier tracks have covers to lay to try and help this, they don’t always work and are also a big operation to get them down and cover a wide area of ground.
High winds have also been a reason for horse racing to be abandoned over the years. The most famous of these was in 2008 when day two of the Cheltenham Festival was called off with strong gales at the Prestbury Park track.
Those races were still saved though, with race planners quickly moving them into the remaining Thursday and Friday cards.
Horse Racing Cancelled – What Are The Main Reasons?
- Snow
- Waterlogged Track
- Frozen Track
- Ground Unsafe (too soft, or too hard)
- High Winds
- High Temperatures
- Lack Of Medical Staff or Ambulance
- Disease (rare)
- Bomb Scare (rare)
