Haydock and Ascot confident for weekend cards despite arrival of colder weather; Warwick and Hexham to inspect on Wednesday

The arrival of wet and snowy weather in some parts of Britain is not causing concern ahead of Saturday's feature cards at Haydock and Ascot.

The Grade 1 Betfair Chase is the highlight of the weekend in Britain and the going at Haydock was good under the snow covers on Tuesday. 

Last year's winner Royale Pagaille could clash with exciting Turners Novices' Chase winner Grey Dawning, Ahoy Senor and the supplemented Capodanno in the 3m1½f contest.

"We're in a good place," clerk of the course Dan Cooper said on Tuesday afternoon. "We're reading the forecast with relative calmness, although the snow that came last night has hung around longer than we anticipated.

"We'll have to accept whatever frost comes each morning but I don't think it'll be penetrating soil frost, more grass frost, which recovers quite quickly. It's quite a sporadic forecast with regards to rain."

The going could change significantly during racing on Saturday, with rain forecast throughout the day.

Cooper said: "Saturday looks wall-to-wall rain from 1am to past 9pm. The going might deteriorate quite quickly. It might change during racing, but the ground can handle it this early in the season.

"Friday and Saturday look pretty normal in being wet and not frozen. The going is good at the moment but because of the snow I've been hesitant to do an update as you don't get a great feel of things."

The situation is similar at Ascot, where clerk of the course Chris Stickels said recent rain has been "helpful" for its two-day fixture. 

The meeting is headlined on Saturday by the £100,000 Ascot Hurdle, which could feature impressive Mares' Novices' Hurdle winner Golden Ace.

Stickels said: "We've had about 17.5mm in the last 24 hours and getting on for 25mm in the last seven days. We're a mixture of soft and good to soft as we speak. The rain has been helpful.

"It's going to get colder for the next couple of days. It could be quite frosty on Wednesday and Thursday morning and then it turns a bit milder again on Friday and Saturday, with rain on Saturday. Conditions could be a bit softer come Saturday. 

"There's the odd sleety shower but we're not forecast significant snow. We're talking about the temperature getting down to -1C and up to 4C, 5C and 6C. I don't envisage a problem with the rain that's forecast."

Warwick and Hexham both need to pass 8am inspections on Wednesday prior to racing due to the threat of freezing temperatures. Southwell's meeting on Tuesday was cancelled following two inspections.

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