Ludlow off due to frost but Southwell goes ahead after inspection

Racing at Ludlow on Wednesday has been cancelled due to frozen conditions, but Southwell has been cleared to race after passing its morning inspection.

Temperatures dropped to -2C on Tuesday night at Ludlow and track officials called an abandonment shortly after the planned 7.30am inspection.

Simon Sherwood, clerk of the course at Ludlow, said: "We reached -2C overnight and although it's a light frost, we're covered in fog and we're still sitting at that same temperature.

"We would’ve brought our inspection forward and abandoned the meeting anyway as the temperature has dropped to -3C and we have two isolated areas of solid ground."

Meanwhile, Southwell's clerk of the course David Attwood had no issues with the track during its inspection on Wednesday morning.

He said: "Everything is fine and we got down to -1.8C last night, which was the lowest it reached. There was a grass frost this morning but everything is good, we've walked the track and we're very happy with it.

"The frost covers are still down, but we're starting to take them off now. We have a small bit of mist, but that's due to be clear and it's supposed to be a nice sunny day so we're looking forward to it.”

Wednesday's other meeting in Britain is an all-weather evening card at Kempton, while there are no problems reported for Fairyhouse's afternoon jumps meeting in Ireland.

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