meeting suspended then canceled in Chantilly

Due to heavy snowfall, the remaining six races of the Chantilly meeting were canceled. For the jockeys as for the horses, the security conditions were not met to continue the meeting. The first concern concerns the lack of visibility of the jockeys, with the snow depositing on their glasses during the race and the second, the horses’ supports, hampered when they gallop with snow accumulating under their hooves. Between the second and third races, an additional period of 60 minutes was rightly established by the racecourse officials to give themselves time to reflect on the evolution of the situation. This did not improve with precipitation which did not decrease in intensity. The constant passages of two tractors which harrow the PSF between races, however, had allowed the track to remain completely passable, according to the opinion of the jockeys, despite some projections. According to our information, there is talk of a possible rescheduling of the remaining races of the Cantilienne meeting, on the PSF Deauville next week, but as of today and at this stage, nothing is official, neither decided, nor act. In a press release published in the middle of the afternoon, France Galop indicates that “in the best case scenario, (the remaining six races) will be postponed until next week.”

Safety first

Questioned at the Equidia microphone, Christophe Bohne, director of the meeting, declared: “Safety for men and horses is essential and it is with reluctance that we have decided not to continue the meeting (…). We tried anyway but the weather proved us wrong. We are of course thinking of socio-professionals who have made a long trip and so that they return home in good conditions, not too late and during the day, we preferred to make a decision so that they return home safe and sound. Those who wish to stay here hoping for an improvement in the weather must contact either the Chantilly racecourse or the France Galop managers so that a solution can be found.”

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