Forget the Christmas shopping as all-weather action comes to punters' rescue

A pause in high-class jumps action has enabled all-weather racing to grab the spotlight, and five races from Lingfield and three from Chelmsford will form the backbone of an eight-race broadcast on ITV4.

Unless you have been abroad without access to a Smartphone, it will be no surprise that all British jumps meetings this week were cancelled owing to sub-zero temperatures and frozen tracks.

With average overnight temperatures in many parts of Britain plunging to -6C, with daytime highs of just 1C the norm, the chances of racing taking place on turf during this mid-winter wipeout has been almost zero.