Are the races on? Kempton organisers issue update amid plummeting temperatures as Lingfield also impacted

Following a ground inspection on Friday afternoon, officials confirmed that there would be no races on Saturday as a result of cold weather which has swept across the country over the past week. It comes after the racecourse has issued earlier this week with flooding, which eventually receded.

In an update issued on Friday (January 10), clerk of the course Barney Clifford said: “We’d just been waiting for confirmation from all the forecasts, but we’re forecast minus 2C again tonight and a high of 2C tomorrow.

“We’re not going to get above 2C today, it’s currently still sitting at minus 2.5C at 10.45am and we’re still frozen solid. It was an easy call because we recorded a minus 6.8C which, apart from a minus 11C in 2010, is about as cold as I can remember it here. Thankfully it’s due to warm up in a few days.”

It comes after the all-weather meeting at Lingfield was abandoned on Friday after the surface was described as too lumpy. Officials deemed that there was not enough time to improve the surface with temperatures dropping again overnight.

Kelso races were also called off due to a frozen track. Kelso clerk of the course James Armstrong posted on X: “Sadly we have no option but to abandon racing on Sunday.

“We have now had two successive nights of hard frost and more to come. The track is frozen. Positive temperatures not likely until late morning on Sunday, which is clearly not enough time for a thaw!”

Other races impacted include Warwick and Wetherby. The Unibet Veterans’ Final was moved to Market Rasen and took place on Friday.