Racing Weather Watch Wednesday's meeting at Catterick has become the latest victim of the weather, as the National Hunt card at the North Yorkshire venue has been abandoned due to snow. Five inches of snow are reported to be lying on the track at present and clerk of the course Fiona Needham sees little point in delaying a decision. She said: "There's no hope of it improving at all. We had another inch of snow overnight, it's snowing heavily now and it's forecast to continue." Wednesday's meeting at Ayr was also abandoned today due to a frozen track. Clerk of the course Emma Marley had called a 12 noon inspection after temperatures fell well below freezing on successive nights. However, officials took a slightly earlier look and opted to call off the card. Tuesday afternoon's National Hunt meetings at Hereford & Southwell were abandoned on Sunday, however Southwell plan to host a six-race all-weather card instead. Declarations to run had to be made by 10am on Monday, with the first race due off at 1pm. Clerk of the course Roderick Duncan said: "The all-weather track is being well worked, and we're not anticipating any problems." Meanwhile Plumpton have called an 8am inspection for Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's meeting. The track is another venue firmly in the grip of the current cold snap and officials are expecting another chilly night. Prospects at snow-bound Leicester look bleak for Thursday's meeting with an inspection called for 10am on Tuesday. Racing at Wincanton on Thursday hinges on an inspection at 10am on Wednesday. Officials at the Somerset venue plan to give the jumps card every opportunity of going ahead. "We've got 20% of the track that is frozen and we have a light covering of snow," said clerk of the course Barry Johnson. Meanwhile Lingfield have stepped into the breach, by announcing an additional all-weather card on Thursday. All six races will close at noon on Tuesday, while declarations to run must be made by 10am on Wednesday. Sandown's big meeting on Saturday, featuring the Tingle Creek Chase, is already under threat from the current cold spell. Freezing temperatures have caused frost to get under certain parts of the track that have been covered since Wednesday. Clerk on the course Andrew Cooper admits the forecast is not favourable ahead of the two-day fixture scheduled to start on Friday. "The cold weather is clearly going to continue for at least the next seven days, it would appear, up to and including our meeting at the end of the week," said Cooper. "Overnight on Saturday we experienced frost where we have had covers down since Wednesday. "We certainly have got frost at present and this is the first day we would class ourselves as unraceable. "It is generally accepted that about minus 4C is around the limit of the covers. In the shaded areas we hit minus 7C, the track as a whole was minus 5C. "They have a limit at which they work and are effective and we went over that on Saturday night. That is obviously a concern. "There is not a lot of encouragement you can glean from the week's outlook as a whole and it also carries an increased risk of seeing some snow which we have avoided so far. "There is not a great deal more we can do. We'll just monitor things on a daily basis and take a big stock of things from midweek onwards." Monday's meeting at Folkestone was abandoned despite two inspections, joining Ffos Las, where racing had been called off at the weekend, on the list of weather-related casualties. Weather Watch This Week TUESDAY Hereford abandoned Southwell substitute six-race all-weather flat card WEDNESDAY Ayr abandoned Catterick abandoned Navan abandoned Plumpton Inspection 8am Tuesday THURSDAY Fairyhouse re-arranged Grade One card Lingfield additional meeting Leicester Inspection 10am Tuesday Market Rasen Inspection 10am Tuesday Wincanton Inspection 10am Wednesday
