Sandown loses Tolworth card to frost

Sandown’s high-class card featuring the Blue Square Tolworth Hurdle has been abandoned following a second inspection at 10am.

Officials at the Esher venue checked at 7.30am after temperatures fell to just below freezing until midnight, with cloud cover for the rest of the night meaning it was just above freezing.

Although the track was unraceable at that point, daytime temperatures forecast for highs of plus three to four had given rise to an initial degree of guarded optimism.

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: ``To be fair the temperatures have gone back on us and dipped back below freezing.

“We needed to show some improvement and we did not feel in our judgement and knowing this place that there was enough time for us to persevere.

“It was a very disappointing inspection in the sense that we were hopeful first thing as we had escaped the worst of the frost overnight and it walked pretty well at that stage.

“The daytime temperatures took us back a degree or degree and a half. The sun is out but it is not going to have a great effect on the bits that we need it to.”

On the subject of the Tolworth being rescheduled, Cooper added: “I think in principal, with it being a Grade One, the BHA will look to reschedule it, but that is an issue for them now and the problem would be finding somewhere suitable and raceable before the next event in the Pattern for novices.”