Christmas festivities could be cancelled at Ascot this weekend as the freezing weather threatens to cause a winter wipeout of jump racing in Britain.
Every scheduled National Hunt fixture up to Thursday has already been abandoned and prospects for the feature programme at Ascot on Friday and Saturday, when the ‘Christmas Weekend’ highlights are the Grade 1 Howden Long Walk Hurdle, £150,000 Betfair Exchange Trophy and £100,000 Silver Cup, are not encouraging.
Although frost covers have been deployed since last Wednesday on shaded areas of the home straight, as well as the take-offs and landings, the track is frozen in places and there is snow on the surface after successive nights when temperatures fell below freezing.
