Tuesday’s meeting at Fakenham was abandoned shortly before the first race as heavy rain prevented the emergency vehicles from being able to navigate a safe passage.

The jockeys had come out of the weighing room for the scheduled opener at 12.30 before any issues had arisen.

However, just before the off time, it became apparent there was a problem, with the meeting then called off shortly afterwards.

Clerk of the course David Hunter told Racing TV: “We’ve had forecast rain from 11am along with rain last night and my medical team have done some trials and they are concerned that the ground is so slippy they would not be able to get the ambulances around.

“We don’t have a service track at Fakenham, so we have to strategically deal with instances like that, they would not be able to get an ambulance to a stricken jockey in the required time, which is one minute.

“He (medical officer) has discussed it with the BHA and there’s been an inquiry – it’s just really hard luck.

“I’ve been doing this for 26 years, we’ve had wet days and this has been a torrid season so far – this is the thing we always consider, we’ve walked it two or three times this season and felt there was no problem at all.

“What we have got is rain throughout the afternoon, so the situation will only get worse, not better.

“It’s beyond regrettable, nobody is more disappointed than me and my team and I’m really sorry for everybody who has arrived, and we’ll be giving a full refund.”

There has also been heavy rain in Wales, forcing Chepstow to call an inspection for noon tomorrow ahead of their meeting on Sunday, January 7.

Friday’s jumps fixtures at Fakenham and Uttoxeter have been called off as Storm Babet continues to bring heavy rain and strong winds across the country.

Both tracks had called inspections for 7.30am but neither venue will race due to the weather conditions.

Uttoxeter had 12 mm of rain overnight, with clerk of the course Richard Fothergill anticipating a further 20 mm at least over the day.

He said: “We had the 12mm overnight but in the hour after I walked the course at 7am, we had a further 5mm. The forecasts are for upwards of 20mm, with some even saying 40mm.

“We were raceable yesterday, but we didn’t have much scope for more.”

Fakenham clerk of the course David Hunter felt a combination of factors had gone against the Norfolk venue.

He said: “We had 17mm by 6.15/30 this morning which was fine, but the problem is what is to come with our forecaster saying we could get 30-40mm, with the worst rain moving in around lunchtime.

“We have a drainage ditch that runs through the course from surrounding farmland with a pond that can overflow onto the track, we also couldn’t guarantee safety vehicles would be able to access all areas of the track and obviously horse and rider safety is paramount.

“Given the weather is not ideal for travelling either, we felt it best to make an early decision.”

Redcar’s Flat meeting has been given the go-ahead after passing a morning inspection, although officials at the track will continue to monitor the forecast strong winds – a proviso that also applies to Newcastle’s evening meeting on the all-weather.