Racing: Racecourses deny shut down story

A REPORT that the Racecourse Association might recommend a shut down of jump racing during mid-winter was yesterday dismissed as preposterous.

The newspaper story claimed that the RCA had considered supporting the idea of a cessation of National Hunt racing in January and the first half of February. The article in yesterday's Daily Mail said that a memorandum prepared by the RCA for the British Horseracing Board had outlined the "benefits of closing down jumping in this period".

Morag Gray, RCA's racing director, issued a strenuous denial, however. "It's preposterous," she said. "It's completely inaccurate and if it wasn't October I'd have thought it was April.''