The Welsh Grand National meeting at Chepstow has been postponed until January 5 due to a waterlogged track.
Racecourse officials called an inspection on Christmas Eve following recent heavy rain, but with further downpours forecast in the coming days they were left with little option but to call off the meeting which was due to be run on December 27.
The Welsh National meeting was due to be the last televised racing broadcast by the BBC before exclusive terrestrial TV rights to UK horse racing transfers to Channel 4 from New Year’s Day.
With the race now being rescheduled, presenter Clare Balding confirmed on Twitter that Channel 4 will now cover the race as part of their programme on Saturday, January 5.
The racecourse’s official Twitter account said: “Due to a waterlogged track & further rain forecast, the Coral Welsh National has been abandoned & has been rescheduled to Sat 5 Jan 2013.”
The rearranged Welsh Grand National will now be broadcast on Channel 4 after the abandoned fixture brings a premature end to more than 60 years of racing coverage on BBC television.
“It’s sad as we’ve had great support from the BBC,” said Chepstow’s clerk of the course Keith Ottesen.
“It’s said we can’t finish on a high but with the amount of rainfall we’ve had it can’t go ahead.”
“Fingers crossed we can run the meeting which has been rearranged for Saturday, January 5 with an increase in prize-money for the Finale Hurdle.
“We have had great support from sponsors Coral and the BHA.”
This is not the first time that inclement weather has affected the running of the Welsh National.
The meeting was postponed by heavy snow in 2010, but was eventually run 12 days later.
Last year’s race went off without a hitch, with 10-1 shot Le Beau Bai winning by seven lengths.
First run in 1895, the Welsh Grand National is the biggest race of the year in the Principality.
The 2012 meeting was due to be the final farewell for the BBC racing team before all TV rights to UK horse racing are passed over to Channel 4 on January 1.
Racing had been a firm fixture in the BBC’s sports schedules in the 1960s and 1970s, but since cutting their ties with Chester racecourse in the 1980s there has been a gradual decline in interest in the sport at the corporation over the past 20 years.
While the BBC lost the rights screen Cheltenham meetings to Channel 4 in 1995 and Newbury in 2002, they regained the Epsom Derby and continued to hold onto the marquee events such as the Grand National and Royal Ascot.
But the BBC’s long-term commitment to racing was called into question when it pulled the plug on Goodwood after 50 years of coverage in 2006.
After signing a new three-year deal in 2009 to cover just 16 days of racing a year, the BBC lost out to Channel 4 in the next rights agreement earlier this year after C4 outbid the corporation for the rights to the sport’s premier events.
The Grand National and Royal Ascot will all be shown live on Channel 4 for the first time next year as part of up to 85 days of live racing a year on the channel until 2016.
Commenting on the demise of horse racing on the the BBC, former presenter Julian Wilson told the Daily Express: “What is happening at Chepstow next week is heartbreaking because it has been a long journey.
“When it was first covered, 61 years ago, racing was very important to the BBC.
“When Grandstand started in 1958, horse racing was one of the foundations of it.”
For the record, the last live race meeting on BBC TV was October’s QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot, which featued the last appearance of the legendary race horse Frankel.
Channel 4 Racing relaunches with a fresh new look on New Year’s Day with the IMG-produced programme being fronted by Clare Balding and Nick Luck.
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UPDATE: Channel 4 will screen two races from Chepstow – including the Welsh Grand National – as part of a bumper eight racecard on Saturday, January 5.
The new-look Channel 4 team also has all the excitement and drama from Sandown Park where the big race, the £50,000 32Red.Com Handicap Chase, is often a major pointer to this year’s Grand National.
Nick Luck presents live coverage of all the action from Sandown, Chepstow and Wincanton, with commentary by Richard Hoiles, Jim McGrath, Graham Cunningham, reports and interviews by Rishi Persad and betting news from Tanya Stevenson.
Saturday 5th January Channel 4 Racing: Sandown Park, Chepstow & Wincanton LIVE: 1.30pm-4.00pm – Channel 4 / Channel 4 HD Live C4 Racecard: 1.35 – CHEPSTOW: Coral.co.uk Future Champions Finale Juvenule Hurdle 1.50 – SANDOWN PARK: 32Red Casino Handicap Chase 2.05 – WINCANTON: Bathwick Tyres Poole Handicap Chase 2.25 – SANDOWN PARK: 32Red Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle 2.40 – WINCANTON: Bathwick Tyres Handicap Chase 3.00 – SANDOWN PARK: 32Red Handicap Hurdle 3.20 – CHEPSTOW: Coral Welsh Grand National 3.40 – SANDOWN PARK: 32Red.com HBLB Handicap Chase.
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