Kempton outlines contingency plans

Kempton have confirmed plans to switch the William Hill King George VI Chase to Monday should the track fail a 12 noon inspection today.

The £200,000 (€235,444) feature is due to be staged on St Stephen's Day along with the Grade One williamhill.com Christmas Hurdle but clerk of the course Brian Clifford admits the venue is facing an uphill battle during the current cold spell.

Should Sunday's card be cancelled, both Grade Ones will be transferred to an eight-race card on Monday with the hurdle being run at 2.40pm and the King George at 3.15pm.

Clifford said: "We are in a challenging position because the forecasts for St Stephen's Day are suggesting dawn temperatures as low as -8C.

"We will have our official inspection at lunch time today to assess prospects for Boxing Day, but to provide the maximum amount of information for racegoers we wanted to confirm the contingency plan should we not be able to race on December 26."