Catterick push inspection to 1pm but Plumpton off

WITH temperatures rising, Catterick general manager and clerk of the course Fiona Needham has pushed back their morning inspection to 1pm in order to give the course a chance to thaw.

"The course is currently unraceable, but with temperatures rising, something we haven't had for the last few days, I thought it best to give it until 1pm and see if conditions have improved.

"We will re-evaluate the forecast then and see if the warmer temperatures has made any difference to the course," said Needham.

However it was a different story at Plumpton, with the track remaining frozen overnight and no hope of a thaw in the forecast, clerk of the course Mark Cornford has abandoned Monday's fixture before declarations even had to be made.

With the prospects of racing deminished due to a covering of snow and severe frosts in parts of the course, Cornford took the decision early to cause as little disruption as possible.

"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."