Green light for Naas; Lingfield off and Kempton to check again

This afternoon’s National Hunt fixture at Naas goes ahead as scheduled after the track passed an 8am inspection, but this afternoon’s meeting at Lingfield in England has been abandoned due to snow.

Also in the UK, this afternoon’s all-weather meeting at Kempton is subject to a further inspection at 9am.

With the ground already described as heavy, officials at Naas were keen to check on conditions due the possibility of further rain overnight.

Clerk of the course Brendan Sheridan is pleased to report the ground remains raceable and has given the high-class card the green light.

He said: “We’re good to go. The ground is going to heavy and not ideal, but it’s been heavy at our last couple of meetings and the main thing is we’re raceable.

“We’ve had 10 millimetres of rain since Friday lunchtime, but it’s not raining at the moment and hopefully we won’t get any more.”

Having already lost Friday’s fixture following heavy snowfall on Friday morning, clerk of the course at Lingfield Neil Mackenzie Ross announced an inspection for 7am on Saturday in the hope conditions would improve.

However, further snow overnight has left the situation untenable and officials have had no option but to draw stumps.

Kempton officials announced an early-morning check for 7.30am today after the Sunbury course was hit by significant snowfall on Friday.

With the snow having now relented, work can begin in an attempt to get the track fit for racing this afternoon.

Clerk of the course Barney Clifford said: “It has stopped snowing and the troops are working hard to try and get racing on. We’ll know if this is achievable by 9am.”