Calcutta: The opening day of the city’s monsoon season on July 8 stands cancelled, according to an RCTC notification, on Friday, which cites paucity of ‘entries’ as reason behind the decision. However, trainers had more to add for shying away from the Day I fixtures.

The primary reason being the absence of rain which has left the racetrack hard. “The racetrack is hard and dusty and we can’t risk injuring horses early in the season,” said a trainer. The turf officials also confirmed trainers’ observations. “The monsoon track has been heavily and regularly watered but its hard to supplement rain. We hope skies to open up in the coming 12 days and the next fixture on July 14 would be conducted without any hindrance,” said Boman Parakh, secretary RCTC. The city’s meteorological department, too, confirmed that the season is 74 mm short of rain so far.

However, what has really caused ‘entries’ to suffer is Clause 21, re-introduced in the monsoon season’s prospectus, that forbids an owner from accepting to run more than three of his wards in any race, barring a sweepstake.

Such an experiment in the past had fallen flat and with a horse-strength of only about 230 stabled in Hastings — of which 160-plus belong to two heavyweight owners — those vested with power will have to take a reasonable stand. Otherwise, it will not come as a surprise if the 15-day season, which tripped at the start, witnesses more cancellations in the coming weeks and on similar grounds.