Kempton has cancelled its opening jumps fixture of the winter campaign because insufficient rainfall has left the course unable to provide safe conditions for National Hunt racing, The Jockey Club has said. The Listed Panoramic Hurdle, which had been due to be run at the Sunbury venue, will instead take place at Carlisle on Thursday 22 October and will retain its £50,000 value.
The decision is a further interruption to the opening weeks of the British jumps programme, with Exeter also losing its meeting scheduled for Tuesday 20 October. The Jockey Club said Exeter had received no significant rainfall in recent weeks and that the forecast did not offer enough rain to support the fixture.
Panoramic Hurdle retained on revised card
Kempton’s abandonment removes a meeting intended to begin its winter jumps campaign, but the transfer means its Listed contest remains in the programme. The Panoramic Hurdle will be staged at Carlisle at the same prize-money level rather than being lost with the fixture.
The Jockey Club said Kempton had continued to irrigate its tracks since the end of June. However, it said a prolonged spell of dry weather and warm temperatures meant the racecourse could not achieve the ground conditions required for jump racing.
That distinction matters for trainers and owners with horses aimed at the Listed contest. The race remains available, with its value unchanged, but the venue and date have altered. The transfer changes the race’s venue and date from the cancelled Kempton fixture to Carlisle on 22 October.
The source did not specify the original date of Kempton’s cancelled fixture. It described the meeting as being scheduled for Sunday week, so the confirmed calendar date in the revised plan is the Carlisle staging of the Panoramic Hurdle.
Exeter loses a second early-season meeting
The update also confirmed a worsening position at Exeter. Last week, The Jockey Club announced that the Devon track’s opening fixture, scheduled for the following Thursday, would not take place. It has now cancelled the course’s next meeting as well, Best Mate Beginners Chase Day, which had been scheduled for Tuesday 20 October.
The chronology shows that Exeter’s opening fixture and its second scheduled fixture have both been cancelled. The Jockey Club attributed the latest decision to the absence of significant recent rain and an insufficient rainfall forecast, rather than presenting it as an isolated change to a single racecard.
For the wider programme, Kempton and Exeter represent different outcomes from the same ground issue. Kempton’s feature Listed hurdle has been preserved through a transfer to Carlisle, while Exeter’s second fixture has been cancelled. The available evidence does not establish whether individual races from Exeter will be rearranged, so racegoers and connections should not assume replacements will be found.
What ticket holders need to know
The Jockey Club said that general admission ticket holders for the cancelled fixtures would receive refunds automatically. Hospitality guests will be contacted directly to discuss their arrangements.
That provides a practical route for people who had planned to attend either cancelled meeting: general admission customers should not need to make a refund request under the arrangements announced, whereas hospitality customers should await contact from the racecourse team.
The immediate competitive consequence is most defined for the Panoramic Hurdle, whose transfer keeps a £50,000 Listed opportunity in the calendar. For Kempton’s other scheduled races and for Exeter’s abandoned cards, the announcement confirms the cancellations but gives no further relocation details. The announcement confirms Kempton’s cancellation, Exeter’s second cancellation, and the transfer of the Panoramic Hurdle to Carlisle.