Saturday cards off at Newbury and Warwick

Newbury and Warwick have both abandoned their weekend cards after the frozen tracks failed Friday morning inspections.

Newbury’s Betfair Hurdle fixture is therefore set to take place on Sunday February 21 – while Warwick’s meeting, featuring the Agetur UK Kingmaker Novices’ Chase, will be put back just two days to Monday.

The British Horseracing Authority announced those contingency plans on Thursday.

It was no surprise, after a week of freezing temperatures nationwide and snow which has wiped out the British jumps fixture list since last Sunday, that Saturday’s scheduled cards did not pass their inspections.

Both courses were scheduled to check at 8.30am, but Newbury was able to announce shortly before 8am that the inspection was failed after another freezing night.

Temperatures dropped to -5C and were still only -2C on Friday morning.

At Warwick, it was confirmed just after 8.30am that – with some frozen areas under the covers – the meeting is to be transferred to Monday.

Friday evening’s scheduled all-weather Flat meeting at Chelmsford was also abandoned after a morning inspection because of the freezing conditions and with snow still on the track. That in turn led to an inspection ahead of Saturday, which also resulted in abandonment.

In Ireland, Naas has announced a 7.30am inspection because of a forecast for snow and ice before Saturday’s card.

Lingfield will also inspect on Saturday morning, at 8am, for its all-weather fixture – because of a forecast for a “prolonged & severe frost forecast tonight”.

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