The Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite Sackville has recovered from the runny nose that kept him from appearing at Leopardstown over Christmas and will soon return to work.

The Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown on February 10th, and a clash with the triple race winner Florida Pearl, is the comeback target for Sackville, who missed out on the Ericsson Chase because of a nasal discharge.

Yesterday, trainer Frances Crowley gave an upbeat bulletin on the horse who is a general 7 to 1 favourite for steeplechasing's blue riband in March.

"He seems to have got over the cold and he will be back in full work shortly. He will need to be with the Hennessy coming up. But I'm happy we'll be able to prepare him for the race," she said.

Sackville's season has been varied already, with a Charlie Hall Chase victory at Wetherby in November sandwiched in between two defeats at Punchestown.

The Hennessy is already shaping up to be a championship race in Ireland, with Alexander Banquet back on track after a promising return to action in the Ericsson behind Foxchapel King. Both horses are set to meet again in the Hennessy.

Racing in Ireland appears set to return to normal at Thurles tomorrow, with the weather forecasters predicting an end to the cold snap that has devastated the post-Christmas programme.

"Prospects are reasonably bright. Milder weather is expected on Wednesday afternoon and some rain is forecast for that night. We are not planning an inspection," the Thurles manager Pierce Molony said yesterday.

Yesterday's scheduled Fairyhouse card fell to the frost on New Year's Eve but is now set to be run off on Saturday, while the Punchestown card that was called off on Sunday is scheduled for Tuesday next.

Prospects for the televised meeting at Sandown on Saturday are already rated as "pretty slim" as the icy weather continues to take its toll on racing in Britain.

The valuable card is due to feature the Grade One Gerrard Tolworth Hurdle and the Mildmay Cazalet Memorial Chase.

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said yesterday: "It is very much unraceable at the moment. We had minus six last night on top of minus four the night before, which compounded the situation.

"The frost is well and truly in the ground and the forecast for the week is not that encouraging.

"There is some suggestion of slightly lesser frosts towards the end of the week but it will be no great shakes as far as daytime temperatures go.

"Things have got to improve in a relatively short space of time for us to be able to race." He added that it was unlikely an inspection would be held before Friday unless the situation was an "absolute no-hoper" when a check tomorrow was possible.

Channel 4 are also due to televise Uttoxeter, where clerk of the course David McAllister said: "We have still got a covering of snow. That's kept a lot of the frost off but last night it got down to minus eight and it is still below freezing now.

"The weather is supposed to improve with cloud cover tomorrow and temperatures getting to three or four degrees tomorrow." A decision would be made today on whether an inspection would be arranged, he added.

Haydock is also due to race on Saturday and clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright said: "It doesn't look brilliant. We will take a view on Thursday and formulate a plan of what to do on Friday.

"At the moment, we are frozen rock solid and it is getting very cold at night. There is a bit of snow but the problem is frost."

The other turf meeting on Saturday is at Musselburgh, where clerk of the course Bill Farnsworth said: "It's still frozen and it looks like a frost tonight.

"We are waiting until tomorrow for an up-to-date forecast. It is supposed to be getting milder towards the end of the week - it's just how mild it gets. "

Meanwhile, prospects of racing at Sedgefield tomorrow still appear to be remote.

However, general manager Alan Brown said that the 11.30a.m. precautionary inspection would not be moved.

"There has got to be a massive change. There has been no movement on the snow as yet. There are three to four inches of snow and it has drifted in parts of the course," he said.

Hopes of racing at Taunton tomorrow have improved slightly after a less severe frost was forecast for last night.

No problems are reported from Lingfield.