Four inspections and morning snow - but fleece does the trick

Who would want to run a racecourse in the winter? It's enough to make you think the fates are conspiring against you, doing their best to put people off coming racing.

On a day when there were also meetings at Warwick and Wolverhampton in the Midlands, many a potential Uttoxeter racegoer may have been put off by serious doubts over the card going ahead as the meeting had to survive no fewer than four inspections.

Early morning snow and sleet weighed heavily on the 1.2 miles of fleece covers that were put down to protect against a forecast frost that did not arrive - and clearing it off the track was what proved the threat to racing.