A NUMBER of races at Wetherby over the last five years – including the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase – have been run over the wrong distance, the British Horseracing Authority has announced.

Four of the 12 active starts at the West Yorkshire course were found to be wrongly positioned, meaning the Charlie Hall Chase has been contested over short of the official “three miles and about one furlong” distance.

The problem came to light following the Charlie Hall meeting earlier this month when Timeform writer Simon Rowlands outlined his concerns about the configuration of the track following some notably quick times.

Rowlands surveyed the track using Google Earth and raised the alarm about the distances potentially not being run as advertised.

A survey of the track showed the Charlie Hall had been run over 78 yards short of the expected trip, while the three-mile-one-furlong hurdle was actually run over further.

Rowlands said: “I would say on behalf of myself, and Timeform, that we welcome the acknowledgement of the situation.

“I applaud the comments of (BHA director of raceday operations and regulation) Jamie Stier in recognising how important the accuracy of information is and the BHA’s plans to remeasure jumps courses.

“I was asked by our Jumps editor Dan Barber to investigate why the times had improved at Wetherby and while there were other factors to consider, including the method of official timing, there was still a notable difference.

“We measure a race time from when the first runner passes the starter, rather than when the tapes go up, but even accounting for that, the Charlie Hall was nearly three seconds quicker than the course record.

“It may have been the ground was quicker or other factors were in play, but using Google Earth, I surveyed the course on the mid-line and found it to be short.

“Every race over jumps is officially rounded to the nearest half-furlong, i.e. 110 yards, so, a ‘three-mile-onefurlong chase’ needs to be three miles and one furlong, plus or minus 55 yards, to be ‘correct’.

“This gives courses a lot of leeway – too much punters would reckon – but nowhere near enough in this instance.

“The BHA survey has the Charlie Hall Chase 132 yards shy of advertised – despite going wide on the bends.”

The feature race, which was discovered to be three miles and 88 yards when the minimum distance would three miles and 166 yards for it to be officially classified as “three miles about one furlong”.

The start has now been moved back by 84 yards so that it retains its official distance description.

The three-mile-one-furlong hurdles distance was found to be 38 yards longer than the maximum three mile, one furlong and 55 yards permitted for a jumps race to be officially described as “three miles and about one furlong”.

The start has therefore been moved forward 125 yards so that it retains its official distance description.

The one-mile-five-furlong bumper course will now become one mile, four and a half furlongs and the twoand- a-half-mile hurdle course will be run over two miles, four and a half furlongs.

Jamie Stier, BHA director of raceday operations and regulation, said: “It is unacceptable that the hurdle and chase courses at Wetherby have for some time been operating over incorrect distances in some instances.

“However, it is the view of BHA that the scale of the inaccuracy is not sufficient for any retrospective action to be required in terms of the results of any of the races in question.’’ Wetherby chief executive Jonjo Sanderson backed the BHA’s suggestion that the methodology for measuring tracks needs to be reviewed.

The start revisions will take place immediately and be in place for this Saturday’s fixture, although only the new two-mile-four-anda- half-furlong hurdles start will be used this weekend.