Kempton forced to abandon racing on Wednesday after burst water main causes chaos and leaves track high and dry
KEMPTON Park have been forced to cancel Wednesday's all-weather card.
A burst water main nearby means the track has been left high and dry with no access to water.
The news broke at 8.30am that the Sunbury area had been plunged into chaos after a 'large pipe' burst at a major waterworks site near Hampton Court.
The surrounding areas have also felt the knock-on effects of the breach, with dozens of school closures across Surrey and west London and thousands of homes left without water.
Kempton tweeted that a precautionary inspection would be held at 12.30pm to see if racing can go ahead.
But Thames Water were unable to provide a guarantee that the water supply would be restored by the time of the scheduled opener at 5.50pm, so the track made the decision to abandon.
Clerk of the course Barney Clifford said: "We were notified at around 9am that there was a major water burst in the Hampton Court area.
"We have very slow or no running water and with Thames Water unable to provide a timeline of when it will be rectified, we've unfortunately had to abandon racing due to both equine and human welfare.
"We have very little running water and we will run out before too long as things stand. We did manage to store some water for the horses that arrived overnight.
"There is plenty of water coming out of the skies, but unfortunately nothing coming out of the taps!"