Lingfield to inspect at 8am with Plumpton also checking on Monday for its fixture on Tuesday

Lingfield's all-weather card on Monday must pass an 8am inspection after freezing overnight temperatures forced the cancellation of Sunday's meeting.

There was little chance of Sunday's fixture taking place after temperatures got down to -6.8C and officials spent the rest of the day working on the course to give the following day's fixture the best chance. 

Clerk Stephanie Wethered said: "All focus shifts to trying to save tomorrow's fixture. We are continuing our track works today until it goes to freezing this afternoon. It could go down to -3C overnight, but it should be warmer in the daytime at around 6C."

The track was deemed raceable on Sunday afternoon.

Prospects for Monday's jumps meeting at Exeter look much brighter, while Tuesday's fixture at Plumpton will require assistance from overnight temperatures, with clerk of the course Marcus Waters calling an inspection for Monday at 3pm due to frozen conditions.

Walters said on Saturday afternoon: "We’re looking at -2C or -3C tonight, which is not as severe as the last couple of nights, when we’ve got down to -5C. Today we had 3C with bright sunshine, which we’ll have again on Sunday and maybe a little bit warmer.

"Going on from there the forecasts diverge, with some showing 0C Sunday night into Monday, and others a little bit higher. Daytime on Monday could be 6C or 7C, and then overnight some are down at 0C or 1C, with other forecasts up at 4C or 5C. On Tuesday we could get up to 8C or 9C by 1pm."

Waters added: "If we got the better end of the forecast we'd be pretty hopeful. If we started to get the colder end and consecutive nights of frost, we could be in a bit of trouble."

Exeter officials don't envisage any problems with frost ahead of Monday's meetingCredit: Edward Whitaker

Exeter was blanketed under 10cm (4in) of snow last Wednesday but has recovered to the point where it was raceable on Saturday, with no significant frost in the forecast ahead of Monday's fixture.

Clerk of the course Jason Loosemore said: "The snow that was with us on Wednesday has gone and we’re frost-free, and look likely to be for the next two or three nights, with temperatures going north rather than south. 

"We’re looking at daytime temperatures of 8C or 9C and most importantly, nightime temperatures of plus 2C or 3C."

The going on Saturday was officially soft, heavy in places.  

Weather prospects

Monday

Exeter - soft, heavy in places (raceable but 'holding' ground)
Lingfield - 8am INSPECTION Monday
Punchestown - soft, soft to heavy in places
Wolverhampton - standard

Tuesday 

Dundalk - standard
Newcastle - standard
Plumpton - soft, good to soft in places (mainly frozen), 3pm INSPECTION Monday
Southwell - standard

Wednesday

Southwell - standard
Hereford - good to soft, soft in places (frozen in places)
Newbury - hurdles: soft; chase: heavy, soft in places (frozen in places)
Clonmel - unraceable
Kempton - standard to slow

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