Champion trainer Paul Nicholls rescues horses ‘literally floating’ in flash flood at yard
CHAMPION trainer Paul Nicholls has been forced to evacuate horses left ‘literally floating’ in a flash flood at his Ditcheat yard.
A photo posted online showed a worker carefully guiding one of the thoroughbreds through a river of water that had made its way into his famed stables.
The water was said to be receding now but it was yet another example of how Storm Henk has caused chaos in racing.
Sandown was forced to cancel its big card tomorrow after the Surrey track suffered an absolute deluge on Thursday night.
While Chepstow scrapped its meeting for Sunday earlier in the week after being hit with more than 140mm of rain.
Videos from Ditcheat showed some of Nicholls’ stable stars waiting patiently in their boxes as the water lapped at their doors.
Several staff were involved in making sure the horses were taken to safety late last night.
Fortunately the flood did not appear to be in the main courtyard where the likes of Gold Cup hope Bravemansgame lives.
Nicholls’ assistant Charlie Davies wrote online: “Not what I had planned at 11pm last night but thankfully all the horses are good this morning.”
The 14-time champion trainer added: “The river nearby burst its banks, with water backing up everywhere.
“One of the yards we’ve got just started to flood.
“We had to move half a dozen horses out. They were literally floating around in their boxes.
“But that’s the first time it’s happened in 15 years and we were prepared for it.”
Huntingdon, Worcester and Stratford racecourses have been left totally submerged after days of relentless rainfall.
Kayakers paddled down the home straight at Worcester while dirty water left Huntingdon looking a total write-off.
Stratford had waves of water on its course – but there was some good news with Wincanton hopeful of hosting its Saturday card.
Clerk of the course Daniel Cooper said: “We’re just exploring options with regards the best raceable ground and we plan to honour the inspection at 8am on Saturday.
“We had 27mm on Thursday with a dry outlook and, if that is the case, we will be perfectly fine.”
Newcastle look set to go ahead with their seven-race jumps card while Kempton and Southwell should be safe with their action on the all-weather.
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