SINGAPORE,  8 January 2006

For the first time since moving to their racecourse at Kranji in 1999, Singapore Turf Club (SNTC) had to cancel races due to adverse weather conditions.

After just two of the scheduled ten races were run, the remaining events were called off because of poor visibility during the races caused by continuous rain which showed no sign of stopping.

SNTC stated in a press release that "over the last six days, 230 millimetres of rain was recorded at the Singapore Racecourse, with 100 millimetres recorded in the last 24 hours. This resulted in some surface water on the track which, when kicked up by the horses, contributed to the poor visibility during racing."

"The jockeys expressed their concern about the poor visibility after the first two races. The trainers expressed the same concern. The Race Meeting Stewards, after into taking into consideration the feedback from the jockeys and trainers and putting the safety of the jockeys as paramount, decided to cancel the rest of the afternoon's races at Kranji."

Yesterday, the Perak Turf Club had to cancel the last five of nine races, not due to rain on race day, but because of the adverse track conditions caused by heavy rain over several days.