Doncaster Racecourse defends track after trainer dubs it 'disgrace' ahead of Lincoln

Trainer Roger Fell shared a video on Twitter, showing areas of firm ground with little or no grass and wrote in a tweet: “It’s a disgrace they expect to run the Lincoln on that ground . It’s like concrete.”

This weekend’s race at Town Moor is the traditonal opening of the Flat season – and Doncaster Racecourse clerk Roderick Duncan has defended the track, blaming its condition on members of the public walking on it during lockdown.

In an interview with The Sun he said: “Look we’ve had 800 horses bash round our National Hunt course over the winter and they cross the track in three places.

“And on top of that, Doncaster is a public space and throughout lockdown we have had hundreds of people walking the course.

“And certainly through the worst winter weather when we have the jumps course covered, they walked on the Flat course.

“Is the grass cover how we’d like it? No, it’s a little bit behind where we’d want to see it. But that’s a combination of factors.

“And this year, as the cycle goes, the November Handicap comes around later and the Lincoln comes earlier in March.

“There’s not much we can do between now and the weekend. The weather needs to be right for the best conditions.

“We’ve had the BHA course inspector round the last week and they were complimentary about the growth underneath.”

He added: “We’re currently good, but drying with bright sun and strong wind at the moment.”

“I expect us to change that to good to firm on the straight course, the round course is a bit more sheltered and there’s a bit of easier ground going away from the grandstand.

“There’s an amount of rain forecast for Friday but there is some disagreement amongst the forecasts as to the volumes. Three to five milimetres seems to be the average, but our own forecast is from three all the way up to 15.”