No runners have been declared for a race at Newbury on Saturday for which the prize money has been called “derisory” by one trainer.

Newbury said on the lack of runners that it was “hard to imagine this isn’t a concerted action” for a race which had 13 entries but no declarations.

But trainer Ralph Beckett said: “£6,500 for a novice race at a Grade One track on a Saturday is a disgrace.”

Beckett, president of the National Trainers’ Federation, has decided to run his horse elsewhere.

He added: “Furthermore, when the race conditions were published a month ago, it was published at £5,300. It was only upped on Monday and that was too little, too late.

“Horsemen are independent people and are fed up with the derisory prize money on offer in general – and in this instance, they decided to vote with their feet.”

The card’s feature race, the Super Sprint Stakes at 15.30 BST, has £200,000 in prize money.

“It’s particularly disappointing for our racegoers to only have six races to enjoy on Saturday afternoon with over £400,000 of prize money on offer,” said Julian Thick, chief executive of Newbury Racecourse.

“We have to run the racecourse on a sustainable basis and we have committed to return to overall 2019 prize money levels this year, despite having lost £2.4m in 2020 and barely breaking even last year as a result of Covid.

“With all the revenue uncertainty and the rising cost pressures racecourses are facing at this current time, we believe that’s a substantial commitment by our shareholders.

“Looking at our forecast for 2022, we will be putting up £2.5m in executive contribution to prize money this year, which is the largest amount the racecourse has ever committed to.”

He added: “Given this background, it’s disappointing this has happened and at a time when the industry needs to pull together.”