Uttoxeter taking precautions

Uttoxeter have covered the entire track in a bid to beat the cold snap and race on Saturday.

The Midlands venue is forecast some sharps frosts over the coming days with overnight temperatures set to drop as low as minus four.

Although some areas of the track are waterlogged, the racecourse management elected to cover the course with fleece on Tuesday.

Clerk of the course Keith Ottesen said: “We cannot guarantee that this will work, but we’re giving it our very best shot.

“If the overnight temperature dips below minus four on Friday night, I’m not sure that even the covers will be enough, but without them we’d have little or no chance of racing.”

The feature race of Saturday’s meeting is the £25,000 (€28,000) Totesport.com Lord Gyllene Handicap Chase.