A leisurely canter from the furlong pole to the winning line was sufficient to secure a prize of nearly £22,000 for the connections of Captain Teague at Exeter on Friday, following the “Future Stars” Novice Chase, one of the key supporting events on the track’s most significant day of the year, which was reduced to a walkover when two of the three declared runners were scratched due to unusually fast ground.

Dan Skelton’s Deafening Silence, a winner on the same card over hurdles a year ago, was the first horse to be withdrawn from the contest, which was set to open a four-race broadcast on ITV4, after the same trainer’s five-year-old Jack Black was pulled up in the opening novice hurdle. Sue Bellamy’s Daring Plan, who had been anticipated to start at long odds, then failed to appear in the paddock before the race. Following confirmation of his withdrawal, Captain Teague completed the formality of a brief canter on the track to secure the prize.

Friday’s walkover marked the first in British racing since March and was only the seventh since April 2019. All seven were chase events, with six being restricted to novices and five run as handicaps. It is also the most high-profile one-horse race in recent years, occurring after an extended period of dull, dry weather that has left many trainers struggling to find suitable venues for their novice chasers.

Skelton stated on Friday that no one could be blamed for the situation, and that both trainers and punters would need to be patient until the ground conditions improve. “Of course it’s the ground, but it’s not the ground, it’s the weather,” Skelton said on Racing TV. “It’s frustrating for everyone, it’s frustrating for the industry. I’m sure there will be lots of comments about how embarrassing it is, but you can’t feel embarrassment at this point, you can only do the right thing.

“It’s driven into us from every angle about welfare. You have to act appropriately and that’s what we’re doing. It would be a lot more embarrassing if we were running horses and they were getting injured, so I think if commentators could please bear with us that we’re making the right calls, that would be most helpful.

“But it will change. It’s the UK, it will rain, it probably won’t stop raining when it does.” Exeter does not have a watering system, although Skelton would not expect it to make any difference if it had. “You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “You’ve got to be watering for at least a week in advance, and who could possibly water in November, because the forecast could change in 48 hours. I wish I could run and I wish we could put on a more appetising show, but that’s just the way the weather is and we can’t beat nature.”

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