Blank day of racing after Lingfield and Chelmsford abandoned

PA Sport Reporters
December 26, 2022 3:20 pm

Big freeze continues to play havoc with fixture list.

Lingfield and Chelmsford were both abandoned on Saturday, leaving a blank day of racing in Britain and Ireland.

With high-profile jumps meetings at Ascot and Haydock already off, along with further National Hunt cards at Newcastle and Fairyhouse, Lingfield’s all-weather fixture was set to be the main attraction.

Temperatures dipped as low as minus 8C at the Surrey circuit this week, and while clerk of the course George Hill declared the track raceable on Friday he did announce a precautionary 7.30am inspection.

That revealed a frozen area on the edge of the racing line and with that in mind a further check took place at 9.30am.

But despite the best attempts of Hill and his team temperatures did not rise quickly enough and were still minus 5C when the decision was taken to abandon.

The track said in a tweet: “Unfortunately despite all the hard work from our grounds team, the weather has defeated our efforts and the track is not safe to race on. Apologies for any inconvenience.”

It was a similar story at Chelmsford, where inspections were called for 8.30am and 10.30am. The course reported temperatures not rising significantly and that frozen lumps in the track would not thaw in time after minus 9C and freezing fog overnight.