Sandown cover up to beat cold

A rise in the temperature in the south of the country has brought brighter prospects for racing with today's meeting at Folkestone getting the green light and tomorrow's card at Wincanton passing an inspection this morning.

Folkestone ditched plans for a 7.30am inspection after a frost-free night at the Kent circuit.

Clerk of the course Neil MacKenzie Ross said: "We went to zero degrees but it didn't cause us any problems so we cancelled the inspection."

The positive news from Folkestone will be welcomed by Andrew Cooper, clerk of the course at Sandown, ahead of their Tolworth Hurdle meeting tomorrow.

Covers are set to deployed today at the Esher track, which will hold an inspection at 8am tomorrow, and Cooper said: "The forecast is for a milder 24 hours and we plan to have the course covered during the day."

Wincanton's card tomorrow hinges on an 8.30am precautionary inspection.

Clerk of the course Barry Johnson held an inspection at 8am today and found the course raceable but felt he should look again tomorrow.

He said: "We are raceable today, but the one down side is that it could get to as low as minus-three degrees overnight.

We will give it our best shot at getting the meeting on."