Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Freezing temperatures are continuing to hit National Hunt racing in Britain ahead of one of the most crucial weekends of the season so far.
The cold snap set in during the middle of last week and had already claimed a number of meetings, with snow that fell during Saturday worsening matters.
Everyone involved with the sport will be praying for a break in the weather ahead of Newbury’s ’Super Saturday’ meeting, which is set to showcase the talents of the likes of Long Run and Sprinter Sacre.
With forecasts suggesting there are more frosty nights in store, yesterday’s fixture at Ayr could prove to be the final jumps card to be run for a few days.
All-weather fare at Southwell and Wolverhampton makes up today’s programme after both Market Rasen and Sedgefield were abandoned early. Frost and snow at Market Rasen left officials with little option but to draw stumps.
Lingfield’s meeting tomorrow has already fallen by the wayside, while Carlisle’s meeting on the same day survived a 2pm inspection yesterday, with acting clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright deciding to check the Cumbrian track again at 8am this morning.
Officials at Ludlow will check at the same time this morning ahead of tomorrow’s scheduled fixture, but clerk of the course Bob Davies is not optimistic. He said: "We’re not raceable today and realistically we need an improved forecast."
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