Cold snap prompts Hereford and Plumpton to inspect

Monday’s meeting at Hereford and Tuesday’s fixture at Plumpton are both subject to morning inspections as racecourses across Britain brace themselves for freezing temperatures this week.

While racing over the weekend was unaffected, a forecast for snow and ice in the coming days looks set to have a significant impact on the National Hunt programme.

An 8am precautionary inspection has been called ahead of Hereford’s Monday jumps card, but clerk of the course John Holliday is “optimistic” racing will go ahead.

He said: “We’re due to get down to minus 2C tonight, so it’s not going to be too drastic I don’t think, so I’m pretty optimistic.

“We’ve called the precautionary inspection to be on the safe side. Our biggest problem is it’s not going to get very warm – it’s only due to get up to 3C at about 1pm on Monday and then it starts getting cold again.

“If it’s frozen in the morning I should think we’re in trouble, but I’m fairly confident. We haven’t had a frost yet, so it’s not like we’ve had two or three on the bounce, which is always worse.

“We’ve covered vulnerable areas and most of the hurdles track as well.”

Tuesday’s meeting at Plumpton is subject to an 8.30am inspection on raceday morning.

The course has been frost free since Friday, but the mercury is forecast to dip below freezing on Monday morning and temperatures could get as low as minus 3C on Monday night.