Does Horse Racing Get Cancelled in the Rain?

Short answer: rain on its own very rarely stops horse racing. Races go ahead in heavy rain all the time, on both sides of the Atlantic. What stops a meeting is a track that has become unsafe: waterlogged turf, standing water, flooding, or rain combined with something else such as lightning, high winds or frost. When that happens, officials delay, move or abandon the racing.

This guide explains how those decisions are made in Britain and the US, gives real examples, and covers what it means for your bets.

How rain changes the racing before it stops it

Long before rain threatens a meeting, it changes the ground, and the ground changes the form.

In Britain and Ireland, the state of a turf track is called the going. The official turf descriptions run from hard and firm, through good to firm, good and good to soft, to soft and heavy (Ireland uses “yielding” in place of good to soft). Since 2009 British courses have also published readings from the GoingStick, a probe that measures how much the ground resists, so you can compare one course with another. All-weather tracks use their own scale, from fast through standard to slow.

In the US, dirt tracks are described as fast, good, muddy, sloppy (saturated, with standing water visible) or sealed, where the surface has been packed tight to help water run off. Turf courses run from firm to yielding and soft.

Some horses handle soft or sloppy ground much better than others, which is why wet weather produces surprise results and why many trainers withdraw horses when the ground changes. That matters for bettors, as you’ll see below.

Who decides whether racing goes ahead

In Britain and Ireland

Each racecourse has a clerk of the course, the official responsible for preparing the track and declaring the going. When heavy rain is forecast, the clerk can drain, cover or move rails to use fresher ground, and will announce a precautionary inspection if the meeting is in doubt. The officials walk the course and decide whether it is safe to race.

If parts of the track are waterlogged, a meeting may be abandoned outright, or race by race after a further inspection. In winter, the same process applies to frost and snow, and some jumps courses lay frost covers on the track to protect it.

Britain also has all-weather tracks (artificial surfaces at courses such as Lingfield, Kempton, Wolverhampton, Southwell, Chelmsford City and Newcastle), which drain quickly and keep the fixture list going through wet winters.

In the US

In North American racing, the stewards and track management make the call. Wet weather usually leads to two things rather than cancellation: the dirt track is sealed and labeled muddy or sloppy, and races scheduled for the turf course are often taken off the turf and run on the main dirt track to protect the grass. Expect late scratches when that happens. Thunderstorms are a different matter: lightning near the track can delay races or stop a card, because it puts horses, riders and fans at risk.

Real examples of racing in, and stopped by, the weather

• The 2018 Kentucky Derby went ahead in record rain. It ran on schedule on May 5, 2018, on a sloppy, sealed track, after more than 2.8 inches of rain fell at Louisville’s airport that day, beating the Derby Day record set in 1918. Justify won under Mike Smith and went on to the Triple Crown.
• The 2001 Grand National was run on heavy ground. Red Marauder won at 33/1, and only four horses finished, two of them after being remounted, in the slowest winning time for well over a century.
• Cheltenham Festival day two was abandoned in 2008, because of wind, not rain. Gusts of around 50mph had damaged a temporary structure, so the Wednesday card was called off and its races were added to the Thursday and Friday programs.
• The 2020 Kentucky Derby moved from May to September, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, not the weather. It was only the second time the race had been rescheduled, after 1945.

The pattern is clear: rain makes racing slower, messier and less predictable, but it is waterlogging, lightning, wind or frost that actually stops it.

What happens to your bets

Rules vary from one bookmaker or track to the next, so always check the terms of the operator you bet with. As a general guide:

• Abandoned meeting or race: if a race is not run, bets on it are normally void and stakes are returned. Bookmakers set their own rules for races that are postponed and run later, so check before you assume your bet still stands.
• Non-runners after a change of going: wet weather often leads to withdrawals. If you bet at a fixed price in Britain or Ireland and a horse is withdrawn late, Tattersalls’ Rule 4 can reduce your winnings. Our Rule 4 calculator works out the deduction and shows the full table.
• Each way bets: fewer runners can change the place terms. Check the terms on your slip and use the each way calculator to see what the bet returns.
• Multiples: if one leg of a double, treble or Lucky 15 is a non-runner or its race is abandoned, that leg is usually treated as void and the bet carries on with the rest. The bet calculator handles void selections.

If you’re betting on the Grand National or the Triple Crown races, the guides to betting on the Grand National and betting on the Preakness cover the race-day details. For the jumps season’s biggest week, see our Cheltenham Festival schedule.

Betting always carries a risk of loss and no tipster, system or staking plan can guarantee a profit. Only stake what you can afford to lose, and set a budget before you start. Gambling responsibly.

Frequently asked questions

Does horse racing get cancelled in the rain?

Rarely because of rain alone. Racing usually goes ahead on soft, heavy or sloppy ground. Meetings are abandoned when the track becomes waterlogged or unsafe, or when rain comes with lightning, high winds or frost.

Who decides if a race meeting is abandoned?

In Britain and Ireland, the clerk of the course calls an inspection and the stewards decide whether it is safe to race. In the US, the stewards and track management make the decision.

What happens to my bet if a race is abandoned?

Bets on a race that is not run are normally void and your stake is returned, but bookmakers have their own rules for postponed races, so check the terms of the one you used.

Do horses run slower in the rain?

Generally yes. Soft and heavy turf, and muddy or sloppy dirt, make races slower and more tiring, and some horses handle wet ground much better than others.