Newbury called off

Officials at Newbury were forced to abandon this afternoon’s meeting after sub-zero temperatures left a severe frost on the track.

The Berkshire venue had employed covers on parts of the course but the exposed areas suffered from the cold weather and the fixture was called off after a 7.30am inspection.

Clerk of the course Richard Osgood said: “The situation was that we had covers for about a third of the track, but it was not enough.

“We were down to minus three and a half degrees overnight and we are still nearly minus three now.

“We had a very heavy frost and it is not going to warm up quickly enough.”