Catterick and Plumpton cancel Monday cards

CATTERICK and Plumpton have been forced to abandon their fixtures scheduled for Monday due to frost.

Plumpton made the decision to cancel after inspecting at 8am on Sunday but Fiona Needham, clerk of the course at Catterick, decided to take a second look at 1pm after an initial 8am inspection proved inconclusive.

However, with frost still deep in the ground upon second inspection and temperatures not forecast to rise until Monday, she had no option but to call it off.

"Temperatures have risen but 20 per cent of the track is under snow and the rest of the track is still frozen," said Needham.

"The frost is deep in the ground and unfortunately racing will come a day too early. We also had to be cautious of the surface becoming slippery when the frost thaws and that can make racing dangerous. It's the way it goes."

Plumpton's clerk of the course Mark Cornford said unexpected freezing overnight temperatures on Friday and Saturday scuppered the chances of the meeting going ahead.

"We're very disappointed, we were not expecting the sort of temperatures we've had the last two nights, -11C two nights ago and -10C last night," said Cornford.

"During the week the forecast was for a rise in temperature for the weekend, now it appears it is going to get milder from here but it's just not going to come in time for us.

"The course has been partly frozen for more than a week, we have a light covering of snow and sheet ice in places and it will take two or three days of positive temperatures to get this deep freeze out the ground."

Following the abandonments, Wolverhampton will be the only meeting in Britain on Monday.