RACING / News: Tomorrow's scheduled meeting at Sandown has been abandoned because of a jockeys' boycott in the row over the use of mobile phones.
Sixty horses were declared for the meeting yesterday morning, but not enough jockeys could be found to ride them even though the deadline was extended by an hour and a half.
When the new deadline passed, only 27 of the intended runners had a jockey booked, and a large proportion of them were apprentices.
Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper announced: "After discussions with the British Horseracing Board and Jockey Club it has been agreed by all parties to abandon Sunday's race meeting."
Sandown was targeted by the jockeys as it is owned by the Racecourse Holdings Trust, which is a subsidiary of the Jockey Club. An application will be made to the British Horseracing Board for an alternative date.
BHB chief executive Greg Nichols said: "This type of action by jockeys benefits no one in racing and harms us all."
John Maxse, the Jockey Club's director of public relations, echoed those sentiments: "No one benefits from the meeting being called off, least of all the jockeys. The cancellation of the meeting will not have improved their bargaining position in the ongoing discussion and debate we are having with them over the issue of mobile phones."
