Racing decimated by adverse conditions
Arctic conditions have bitten into racing by claiming both today’s jump meetings at Wetherby and Folkestone.
More fixtures could fall the same way with the present cold snap set to affect many parts of Britain and Ireland over the next few days.
Officials at Wetherby finally gave up hope of beating the frost and called off the card shortly before a second inspection planned for 10.30am.
James Sanderson, chief executive at the West Yorkshire track, said: “We have had to abandon. It has just not improved.
“The sun has been out but the frost is still in the ground as the wind has really brought the temperature down.”
It was a similar story in Kent, where the meeting at Folkestone was also lost to frost.
Overnight temperatures dipped well below freezing, forcing officials to call off the fixture after a 7.30am inspection.
Clerk of the course Neil Mackenzie Ross said: “It went down to minus four overnight and the temperature is not going to rise quickly enough to allow us to race. It was a severe frost and, unfortunately, we have had to abandon.”
No problems have been reported for Southwell’s all-weather fixture or at Downpatrick in the North where jump racing is scheduled this afternoon.
Tomorrow’s two jump cards at Ludlow and Taunton are also in jeopardy with inspections called at 8am and 8.30am respectively.
At Ludlow, temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing overnight but clerk of the course Bob Davies is still optimistic about their chances of racing.
He said: “We had a sharp frost last night but it is a bright morning and we will see what happens. It could be between minus three and minus five overnight depending on which forecast you take and if it does fall to those levels, we would have a problem.
“However, the sun comes up much earlier at this time of year and we are not due to start racing until 2.20pm, so that should help.”
Officials at Taunton have put back their planned inspection by an hour to 8.30am to help give a more realistic assessment of conditions ahead of Thursday’s meeting.
Overnight frost is threatening the fixture but clerk of the course Michael Trickey is also hopeful racing will go ahead after temperatures dropped just below freezing last night.
He said: “We could go as low as minus three according to the forecast. We’ve changed the time of the inspection as we might be able to gauge better how much temperatures are rising by 8.30am.
“We will also know how much frost we have had overnight. It only went down to minus 1.5 last night and we are confident we could have raced today; it’s lovely and sunny now. If that happens tomorrow we’ll be fine.”
Looking further ahead, an extra all-weather meeting will take place at Wolverhampton on Saturday, while provisions are being made for a Flat card the same day at Lingfield – should the planned jumps fixture there be abandoned before the weekend.
