Leicester's Sunday card called off and Carlisle to inspect on Saturday

There could be a blank day of racing in Britain on Sunday after Leicester cancelled its meeting and Carlisle arranged an inspection for 1pm on Saturday.

The majority of the track at Carlisle has been covered with frost sheets in anticipation of temperatures dropping to around -3C.

Clerk of the course Andrew Tulloch said on Friday: "We have a nice card with a Listed mares' chase and have covered up more of the course than ever before. We could have raced today but it's forecast to get chilly and once you get a couple of frosts the soil temperature goes down.

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"We're forecast to get down to -2C and -3C generally but it can get a couple of degrees lower on the bit down the hill and, even though it's covered, that is the area causing concern. We'll have a look tomorrow and see where we are."

Leicester is facing a similarly desperate situation as Doncaster after being forced to call off a fourth meeting in a row.

With the water table already high from the prolonged wet spell, the course was found to be waterlogged on Friday morning after a further 6mm of rain overnight.

"It's a bit depressing as we lost our last two Flat fixtures and the first two jumps meetings have now gone," said clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson.

"We were coming on okay after a tricky two months but then we got another 15mm in the last two days which has done us."

Leicester: track has lost its last four fixtures due to the prolonged wet spellCredit: Edward Whitaker

Leicester is due to race on Thursday and Stevenson is hopeful of racing finally returning to the course.

"There's no rain forecast now until Thursday and that gives us a good chance," he said. "It's supposed to get cold over the weekend but we're not worried about that, we just need a dry week and then we'll be up and running."

Fairyhouse stages star-studded meetings on Saturday and Sunday and no problems have been reported with the ground described as soft on Friday morning and a mainly dry outlook.

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