Chepstow Saturday abandoned

Officials at Chepstow have made an early decision to abandon Saturday’s meeting due to a frozen track.

Although the course has not been hit by snow as badly as some areas of the country, freezing temperatures have meant conditions have been unraceable for almost a week and clerk of the course Keith Ottesen has had no option but to draw stumps.

“We’ve been below zero for the last 48 hours and although it was not as cold last night as the night before, it still got down to minus 1C,” said Ottesen.

“It’s due to be colder again tonight, possibly getting down as low as minus 5C and we could have some more snow on Friday.

“It all means that by this time tomorrow we’ll have taken a backwards step, so it is pointless taking it any further.

“The frost is deep in the ground, mainly due to the minus 6C temperatures we had last weekend and we also have a small covering of snow.”