Hereford is optimistic it can survive a raceday inspection on Monday as racecourses across the UK prepare to battle with freezing temperatures this week.
The Racing Post reports that vulnerable areas have been protected from the frost at Hereford as overnight temperatures are forecast to drop to as low as -2C, with an assessment to be made at 8am on Monday morning.
The ground is good, good to soft in places at Hereford and it is set to stay dry up until racing.
The track’s clerk of the course John Holliday said: “We’re not freezing now but the forecast is -1C or -2C and my feeling is we can probably stand that. We haven’t had a frost at all at Hereford and we’ve covered take-offs and landings, the vulnerable areas and most of the hurdles course. The rest is up to the almighty.
“The only problem is that it’ll be cold on Monday and it won’t get warm very quickly – if it’s frozen at 8am that’ll be the end of that. The maximum temperature is 3C and that’d be around racetime and it won’t go above freezing until about 10am.”
Punchestown is also facing a Monday morning raceday inspection, with the track set to be assessed at 7.30am following similar lows of -2C overnight. Racing took place at the County Kildare venue on Sunday afternoon and conditions are currently soft.
A team of 25 groundstaff will put in an eight-hour shift on Sunday to cover the track at Plumpton before its Tuesday fixture, which will be subject to an inspection at 8.30am that morning.
It could get as cold as -3C on Monday night and clerk of the course Marcus Waters warned the track may struggle if the forecast is correct.
He hailed his team for their efforts, insisting without them the track would have “absolutely no chance” of surviving the frost.
“We’ve got 25 guys in to help and it’s a full working day to get the sheets on, about eight hours to get them all down,” Waters said. “It’s not easy, it’s hard work. As a smaller course there’s less sheets to put down than other tracks but we have less full-time staff. We’ve moved rails to make the course a little smaller to help us. It’s a really good effort from all the team.
“We’re forecast to get down to 0C or -1C for about six hours, which is a short period so we don’t expect to be frozen for Monday morning. On Tuesday we’ll have a more prolonged spell of cold weather, as low as -2C or -3C from 6pm to about 9am on raceday morning.
“If we were to get -2C and maybe just touching -3C we’d have a chance but if we got the colder end of the forecast I think we’d be up against it even with the sheets down. We’re doing everything we can.”
While the Met Office anticipates the worst of the weather to ease by the end of next week, Chepstow’s fixture on Tuesday is under great threat.
“We’re currently raceable but we’re worried about this cold snap coming in,” clerk of the course Dai Jones said on Saturday evening. “We’re due a little bit of ground frost on Sunday morning and that night we could get as low as -2C.
“There are some forecasts that suggest we might not get it that bad, but Monday afternoon will mark the start of the colder stuff coming in. That Monday night into Tuesday could be as low as -4C.
“If we reach what they suspect then we’re going to struggle. We’ll need the best forecasts, which say the Sunday night into Monday are only just about freezing.
“If we’re not going into Monday night off the back of frozen ground then we’ve got a slight chance. But to be realistic, the modules are showing it’s going to be pretty cold on Monday night and if it gets to those temperatures, it’s definitely going to be a challenge.”
Frost sheets have been placed at the track, as well as at Haydock and Ascot, where meetings are set to take place on Saturday.
Thursday’s meeting at Wincanton faces a reduced threat of snow but must contend with lows of -4C on Tuesday evening, while temperatures could drop even further at Lingfield as the course gears up for its three-day Winter Million Festival.
The potential lows of -5C on Monday evening are similar to last year’s forecast which forced the course to call off the final day of the meeting, including the valuable Fleur de Lys Chase.
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