Goodwood’s big Saturday afternoon fixture has been given the go-ahead following an early morning inspection on Friday.

The Sussex course were forced to abandon Thursday evening’s meeting after heavy rain left the course waterlogged in places.

There has only been 2mm of rain since then and with a dry, breezy forecast no further problems are envisaged.

The going is Soft.

Chepstow racecourse have decided to transfer their remaining flat fixtures to other courses following an infestation of root gall nematodes which has damaged the racing surface.

Last Thursday’s meeting was cancelled due to the infestation and this coming Monday’s meeting has already been transferred to Bath.

The two remaining fixtures on September 3 and September 9, have been moved to Brighton and Bath respectively.

William Buick rode the biggest winner of his career as John Gosden’s Debussy won the Arlington Million.

Coming late Debussy beat the odds-on favourite and last year’s winner  Gio Ponti.

Gio Ponti had been switched wide and looked the likely winner in the home straight, especially as Buick,had hit traffic problems before a gap appeared two out.

Once clear Debussy ran on well to beat  Gio Ponti by half a length, whilst stablemate Tazeez came home third making it  a great afternoon for Gosden.

The other British raider, Luca Cumani’s Summit Surge finished fifth under Lieren Fallon.

Thursday evenings fixture at Chepstow has been abandoned due to damage to the roots of the turf in places.
Peter Hobbs, BHA inspector of racecourses, called off the meeting in the interests of safety after small areas of damage to grass roots were discovered at the Welsh course.

Tony Kelly, group managing director for Northern Racing, said,: "At this stage, we cannot be certain of the exact cause of the root damage which is in a small number of areas. However, we will not take any risks.

"Due to the substantial investment in drainage work currently taking place at the racecourse, it has not been possible to utilise other areas of the racing surface.

"We apologise to those affected for the inconvenience.”

The next scheduled fixture at Chepstow is on Monday, August 30.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) have confirmed it plans to release the details of the 2011 Fixture List by the 23rd September. 

This follows a meeting of the BHA Board and the subsequent meeting of the Levy Board, together with detailed dialogue with the Racecourse Association and Horsemen's Group. The delay in publishing the Fixture List, which is normally announced in late July, is the result of predicted reduction in Levy yield.

The BHA Board had to make a decision on the allocation of around 250 fixtures known as BHA fixtures. It has decided to suspend the allocation of around 150 of these fixtures.

BHA ‘twilight’ fixtures will be made available for allocation between January to April and September to December on the basis that the average prizemoney at each fixture is not less than £3,000 per race. The 16 fixtures allocated to Ffos Las as a new racecourse will also continue.

The BHA will consider applications by racecourses for Self-Funded fixtures on Bank Holidays and to coincide with special events. Existing Self-Funded ‘Enterprise’ fixtures may continue providing that the previously announced prizemoney requirements for 2011 are met.

The Levy Board has decided to provide prizemoney contributions for approximately 1,300 fixtures, including funding for four fixtures on a Saturday (two of which will only receive 50% of normal funding) and two fixtures on a Sunday.

 Ruth Quinn, Director of Racing for the British Horseracing Authority, said,"The challenges for Racing at this time are great and planning for 2011 has been the most difficult in my experience, as I'm sure it has been for the racecourses and the horsemen.  We have made progress on a number of issues, but inevitably there is still much to be done in order to finalise the Fixture List for next year, which we must do in order to create a framework for the sport. 

"There remain a number of issues to face and there will be more difficult decisions we will have to take as matters develop. Once the number of fixtures is set, we can then begin to look at minimum prize money values and the race programme, though this in itself will be a further challenge with the current forecast Levy yield of £70 million inadequate and unsustainable."