Ascot's Clarence House card remains in significant doubt

The Clarence House Chase fixture at Ascot on Saturday remains in significant doubt with the course still frozen in areas late on Wednesday afternoon.

Temperatures dropped to -6C at the Berkshire track on Tuesday morning and went down to -1.5C on Wednesday morning, rising to 5.5C during the day.

The forecast suggests temperatures will dip to -2C or -3C for the next three nights at Ascot and officials are set to reassess the outlook and conditions on Thursday. The Grade 1 Clarence House, which is sponsored by LK Bennett and attracted just three entries on Monday, has been moved to Cheltenham twice in the past ten runnings as a result of Ascot's fixture being abandoned.

Clerk of the course Chris Stickels said at 4pm on Wednesday: “There has been a little improvement today, but we still have lots of frozen areas of the track and frozen areas underneath the frost covers.

“It’s definitely a struggle and we haven’t been raceable since Monday. We need to see more of a thawing for it to be possible. There’s a warmer front coming into the country but it’s now been delayed and not likely to arrive with us until later on Sunday.

“We’re going to continue to monitor the situation and track conditions tomorrow and take a view as to when we need to inspect.”

There was improvement in Lingfield’s jumps track on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching 6C at the Surrey course, but the forecast for the rest of the week remains a concern for Sunday’s jumps card at the Winter Million festival.

The cold spell is set to continue with overnight temperatures averaging between -3C and -6C, with daytime highs of between 3C and 5C. The going is described as heavy, frozen in places.

Sunday’s fixture is a nine-race card following the addition of the Sovereign Handicap Hurdle and Godstone Handicap Chase from Friday’s opening day, which was cancelled on Tuesday.

Clerk of the course George Hill said: “We’ve seen some improvement and we’ve had plenty of sunshine today, which did a good job.

“We’re still a few days out but we’ll need a bit of luck for Sunday. The track has improved in quite a lot of areas today and it’s just a case of what the next four nights are going to do to it.”

Significant improvement is needed at Fakenham for Sunday’s other jumps meeting in Britain. The ground is described as frozen, soft in places.

Two all-weather fixtures have been added this weekendCredit: Grossick Racing

In light of the weekend racing uncertainty, additional afternoon all-weather fixtures have been added at Southwell on Saturday and Newcastle on Sunday.

There could be a fourth consecutive day without jump racing in Britain on Friday unless Market Rasen passes a midday inspection on Thursday for its meeting the following day.

The going is soft, frozen in places at the Lincolnshire track, where temperatures are forecast to drop to -3C on Wednesday night and -2C on Thursday night.

Thursday’s jumps meetings at Ludlow, Wincanton and Fairyhouse were cancelled on Wednesday due to frozen ground, with the last-named track’s fixture rescheduled for next Wednesday.

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