Sunday meetings at Plumpton, Chepstow and Naas face morning inspections

Plumpton's Premier meeting on Sunday hinges on an 8.30am inspection, with heavy rain anticipated before a card which features the £75,000 Sussex Stayers' Handicap Hurdle and the £35,000 Sussex National, both backed by BetGoodwin.

The going at the East Sussex track was described as good to soft, soft in places on the chase course and soft, good to soft in places over hurdles on Saturday but course officials are braced for 20-30mm of rain before racing on Sunday.

"I think if we get the lower amounts of the forecast [20mm] we'd be okay but if we're starting to push to the upper end [30mm], there's a concern we might not be able to handle that amount of rain in a short space of time, but we remain pretty hopeful," said clerk of the course Marcus Waters on Saturday afternoon.

"The track is in good nick and we took the rain on New Year's Day very well. Hopefully we can do the same again."

Although temperatures are forecast to rise significantly on Sunday, wind gusts could reach 45mph on a blustery day.

Waters added: "The storm is bringing a warm front of air, so there's no issue with frost or ice. We'll have to monitor conditions through the day but I'm more concerned about the rain than the wind.

"The worst of the rain should be through by racing. It looks to be coming in at about 8pm this evening and the worst of it looks to be through by 10am in the morning."

Chepstow: Sunday fixture faces a 7.30am inspectionCredit: Edward Whitaker

There is also cautious optimism that Chepstow's meeting on Sunday can beat the elements, although an inspection has been called for 7.30am to assess conditions. Parts of the track had frost in the ground on Saturday but it is the threat of snow and rain before racing that clerk of the course Dai Jones is monitoring.

"The temperatures are rising nicely overnight to virtually double figures for racing, so everything is positive, but we just want to make sure the rain overnight doesn't turn to snow and we don't get more than is forecast," said Jones.

The going at Chepstow was described as soft on Saturday and Jones added: "A little bit of rain would do it no harm and would loosen it up, but we don't want two or three inches of snow and a load of rain. At the moment the forecast doesn't suggest it's going to be like that.

"We're looking at 2-3cm of snow which then turns to rain through the night and the forecast is for 10-15mm of rain by mid-morning on raceday. As we stand, I'd be very disappointed if we couldn't take that amount."

Sunday's meeting at Naas, featuring the Grade 1 Lawlor's of Naas Novice Hurdle, is subject to a 7.30am inspection due to the possibility of snow, while Tuesday's meeting at Leicester will have to pass a 7.45am inspection on Sunday due to the threat of heavy rain and snow overnight.

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