Weather claims Christmas fixtures

Frost has put paid to Sedgefield`s National Hunt meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

An early-morning inspection revealed the course to be frozen and left clerk of the course James Hutchinson with little option.

He said: 'We`re a non-starter, we`re frozen solid. It got down to -3C overnight and it is not forecast to get above 2C.'

Officials at Hereford have been forced to abandon this afternoon`s National Hunt meeting after frost hit the course overnight.

Deputy clerk of the course Jason Loosemore said: 'We`ve unfortunately had to decide to abandon racing. The forecast wasn`t promising enough basically and the frost is well set in.

'We would need a good blast of warm air to move it and that wasn`t forecast to arrive until this afternoon.'

Huntingdon`s National Hunt fixture scheduled for this afternoon has fallen victim to frost.

Plummeting overnight temperatures left clerk of the course Michael Prosser was left with little option, as he explained.

'It got down to -3C overnight,' he said. 'It`s not forecast to get above 2C today and parts of the track are frozen.

'It wasn`t a very difficult decision in all honesty.'

Today`s meeting at Ayr became the seventh casualty of the day when it failed a late inspection.

All was well at the track at dawn but plummeting temperatures forced officials into an 11.30am inspection.

However, by then conditions had deteriorated so much that officials were forced to abandon the scheduled card.

'We have had to abandon,' said course spokesman Chris Kennedy. 'The temperature has dropped considerably since 7.15 this morning.

'There was a forecast of 4 or 5 degrees but that just has not materialised and, in fact, we have seen a severe drop in temperature.'