Racing: York racecourse has been forced to abandon the second day of the prestigious Ebor meeting as conditions at the track have not improved.
Heavy rain over the weekend left areas of the course waterlogged, prompting an inspection at 8.30am this morning.
That check showed the track to be unraceable and clerk of the course William Derby called a 4pm inspection ahead of tomorrow's meeting.
However, Derby was forced to concede defeat once again, this time on a card which was due to feature the totesport Ebor.
York had also hoped to run a rescheduled Juddmonte International Stakes, which will feature the mouthwatering duel between Duke Of Marmalade and New Approach, on Friday following the late abandonment of the first day of the Ebor Festival.
The 10-furlong Group One, which would have seen a fascinating face-off between leading older horse Duke Of Marmalade and Derby winner New Approach, was the headline victim of a waterlogged track.
In an already revised schedule the International was switched to 2.50pm on Friday - just 35 minutes before the Group One Coolmore Nunthorpe - but it remains to be seen how the revised cards will look.
A noon inspection will be held tomorrow to assess the prospects for racing on Thursday.
Staff at York had worked throughout the day in a bid to ensure the track would not lose the second card of their four-day meeting.
However, their efforts were in vain with more rain set to fall.
York's head of marketing James Brennan explained: "We have made an early decision given the rain that has fallen in the last hour to abandon tomorrow's card.
"The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for the Yorkshire area for the next few hours and we deeply regret abandoning tomorrow.
"There will be a noon inspection tomorrow for the prospects of racing for Thursday and Friday, and we are sitting down now with all parties to work out a race programme for those two days."