HORSE racing fixtures on Monday and Tuesday have been decimated amid the first ever red weather warning due to the extreme heat.
Five meetings in all have been abandoned, the British Horseracing Authority confirmed.
Temperatures are set to soar to 40C and bosses have taken the decision to protect the welfare of horses, jockeys and all those involved at the racecourses.
Scheduled fixtures at Beverley and Windsor on Monday have been called off.
While Tuesday’s all-weather cards at Chelmsford and Wolverhampton and Southwell’s jumps fixture have all been cancelled.
Richard Wayman, the BHA’s chief operating officer, said: "The BHA’s number one priority in the staging of any meeting is the wellbeing of all involved, human and equine.
"Following the issuing of the first ever extreme heat warning by the Met Office, we are taking sensible precautions and have made a decision as soon as possible in order to provide certainly for those impacted."
Fixtures at Ayr, Cartmel and Musselburgh, where temperatures are expected to be cooler, will still go ahead.
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The Met Office's red weather warning covers the five courses where racing has been cancelled.
Southwell originally moved their Tuesday meeting ahead to 10am before the decision was made to scrap it altogether.
The course's executive director Mark Clayton said: "We understand the BHA's decision. There's a red weather warning out from the Met Office and we've always put horse welfare to the forefront.
"As an industry, horses come first and if it's too hot to race, pull the plug.
"We've done everything we can to get racing on but with the changes in the forecast it's now not safe for those horses to be racing."
Mark Spincer, managing director of ARC’s Racing Division and responsible for Windsor, Southwell and Wolverhampton, said: "We fully support the decision to abandon the fixtures scheduled to take place on our racecourses on Monday and Tuesday."
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