Newmarket trainers were yesterday told to step up security after fires hit yards owned by Luca Cumani twice in less than 24 hours. The fire chief investigating the blazes at Cumani's stables said trainers should review their security and make sure their properties were well guarded.

Police said stable owners should be very vigilant until the causes of the fires were established.

Both fires broke out in second storey lofts at stable blocks owned by Cumani.

The first occurred at around 9 a.m. on Thursday at his Bedford House stables and the second broke out early yesterday at the nearby Kremlin Stud yard.

Divisional fire officer Michael Jackson, who is leading the fire service investigation into the blazes, said yesterday's fire was "highly suspicious".

"We would advise all stable owners in Newmarket to step up their security arrangements," he said. "They should make sure they know who is coming in and out of their yards and make sure they establish a routine.

Meanwhile, York's clerk of the course John Smith yesterday apologised to the racing public following the abandonment of today's fixture - after prospects of racing going ahead had apparently improved overnight.

He said: "We had good drying weather overnight but there are patches of false ground and, in the interests of safety, we couldn't take the risk.

"Some of the patches are in the straight and obviously it would be impossible to doll these off.

"It's very disappointing and I can only apologise to the racing public."

Thursday's fixture was lost when an early morning inspection found that heavy rain had made the track unfit for racing.

But with no significant rainfall since yesterday morning and a drying wind overnight the chances for York's final meeting of the season going ahead had looked brighter.

In an earlier statement Smith had said: "We had a dry afternoon yesterday and only a light shower at around 10.00 p.m., there was no more rain overnight and it was blowing a gale which helped."

But in a statement issued later, racecourse spokesman Philip Smedley said: "The meeting has been abandoned due to the unfit state of the ground."