THE St Stephen's Day programme in Britain was severely hit by the weather for the second year running yesterday. Nine off the 11 scheduled meetings were lost, 12 months on from the day when all 10 fixtures were abandoned.
The fixtures at Ayr, Newton Abbot, Wincanton, Market Rasen, Hereford, Huntingdon, Wolverhampton, Sedgefield and Wetherby were abandoned.
And today's scheduled meetings at Chepstow and Leicester are also off, with inspections planned at Wetherby (7.30 a.m.), Musselburgh (7.30 a.m.) and Kempton (8.0 a.m.).
Prospects are not looking good for the turf meetings tomorrow with inspections already planned for today at Folkestone (12 noon) and Huntingdon (3.0 p.m.).
Frost is also threatening Newbury, which features the Grade One Challow Hurdle. "We have frost in the ground," clerk of the course Richard Pridham said yesterday.
Wetherby will also hold an inspection at 7.30 a.m. to determine whether or not the meeting can go ahead Yesterday's fixture was abandoned following a severe overnight frost.
A racecourse spokeswoman said yesterday: "We will hold an inspection at 7.30 tomorrow morning. The course has just started to green up too late for today's racing but hopefully the frost won't be as bad tonight. There are some showers forecast."
