RACING: Prospects for the big weekend card at Sandown looked grim yesterday as the wintry weather tightened its grip on racing on turf in Britain.

Three more meetings were lost yesterday - and others seem set to follow with inspections planned at three courses and most officials not hopeful of milder weather arriving in time.

Sandown's chances of staging its valuable televised card on Saturday were described as "not promising".

Stewards will assess prospects for the meeting, which features the Gerrard Tolworth Hurdle and Mildmay Cazalet Memorial Chase, at 4 p.m. today.

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: "As we stand at the moment, it is not promising. We had a sharpish frost last night when it got down to minus four and we have just struggled to plus two today. We're all but frozen solid.

"The problem is the daytime temperatures are not sufficient to get the frost out of the ground. We will have a look and take stock but our chances are looking extremely slim."

Prospects for Saturday's jumps meeting at Uttoxeter were rated "more doubtful than hopeful". Officials are pinning their hopes on a rise in temperatures ahead of the card, which like Sandown is due to be broadcast on Channel 4.

Clerk of the course John Pullin said: "If the weather does not improve significantly later today and tomorrow morning, we will almost certainly have an inspection tomorrow afternoon."

Stewards at Haydock will inspect the course at 4 p.m. today ahead of Saturday's meeting - but prospects are long odds against.

But hopes rose yesterday that racing could go ahead at Musselburgh the same day. A forecast thaw for tomorrow has encouraged hopes that the jumps fixture will beat the cold snap.

Frost has claimed today's meeting at Taunton. The meeting at Sedgefield was also called off, leaving the all-weather card at Lingfield as today's sole survivor, along with Thurles.