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Monday's meeting at Hereford gets go-ahead after temperatures rise

Runners swing away from the stands at Hereford
Hereford: the frost had come out of the ground by Monday morningCredit: Edward Whitaker

Monday's meeting at Hereford has been given the all clear after the track was found to be raceable before the scheduled 7.30am inspection.

Parts of the course were frozen on Sunday, but the frost had come out the ground by Monday morning after temperatures rose to 5C.

The ground was described as heavy prior to the frost covers being removed and the first race is due off at 12.50.


Hereford Monday racecard


The track tweeted: "Racing goes ahead; precautionary inspection passed. Frost covers being removed ready for @Foxtrot_Racing Raceday which you can watch live on @SkySportsRacing."

Fairyhouse officials are due to inspect at 1pm on Monday for the track's fixture on Tuesday.

Officials at Leicester are hoping the milder weather signals an end to the chills that had rendered areas of the hurdles and chase tracks frozen.

The Midlands venue is set race on Wednesday and clerk of the course James Stevenson is confident the meeting will go ahead as planned with the worst of the cold weather now in the rear-view mirror.

He said on Sunday: "We were frozen again this morning so we would not have raced today but it's clouding over and that should be the last of the frosts now. So that's positive.

"It's turning milder and more unsettled next week. So hopefully we don't have too much rain and then we should be up and running."


Is racing on or off? Updated weather prospects for the upcoming meetings


The track at Sedgefield was also frozen on Sunday but Stevenson's counterpart there Michael Naughton is expecting warmer conditions and forecast rain next week to assist Friday's fixture.

"It has started thawing already," Naughton said. "The snow over the weekend froze on the track and it therefore didn't have the opportunity to thaw.

"That has stated to shift now so we are hopeful. It'll be testing ground, no doubt about that. We are due freezing weather on Wednesday night but the temperatures either side of that look good."


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