Friday inspection called for Chepstow's Welsh Grand National card on Saturday

Officials at Chepstow are keeping their fingers "firmly crossed" that Saturday's rescheduled Coral Welsh Grand National card will go ahead despite the fact the meeting must pass an inspection on Friday.

The fixture was originally scheduled for its usual festive slot on December 27 but was cancelled due to waterlogging and officials will take a look at course conditions at 2.30pm on Friday with wintry showers and snow forecast.

The hurdles and chase track have been under frost covers since Monday and while the course has not frozen, clerk of the course Libby O'Flaherty is taking every precaution necessary ahead of Saturday's meeting.

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She said on Thursday morning: "We got down to -4C last night and checked under the frost sheets this morning, under them the ground isn't frozen and that's given me confidence.

"I've called a precautionary inspection because from midday to mid-afternoon on Friday there's a potential chance of one or two centimetres of snow. We'll need to see what we get and look again at the forecast.

"We can only go off the current forecast and it's telling us that there is a chance of snow falling tomorrow, so we need to have a check after the snow or wintry showers have fallen and speak to the forecasters to see what it's expected to be like overnight on Friday. Our fingers are firmly crossed."

Jockey William Kennedy (second right): among the representatives and officials out on the track for the fourth inspection at Ffos LasCredit: Getty Images/Pool

There was no jumps racing in Britain or Ireland for the third day in succession as the fixture at Ffos Las was cancelled late on due to a frozen track, following meetings at Musselburgh and Clonmel which suffered the same fate.

Friday's fixture at Taunton has also succumbed to the cold snap, with the meeting similarly cancelled due to a frozen track.

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A spate of inspections have been called for some of Saturday's other meetings with Wincanton – which is due to stage the rescheduled Paddy Power Dipper Novices' Chase – and Fairyhouse inspecting at midday on Friday.

Exeter is due to race on Sunday but will face an inspection on Saturday, with both tracks frozen in places.

Daniel Cooper, clerk of the course for Exeter and Wincanton, said: "The temperature has dropped significantly since the morning has gone on, we're -3C at Wincanton and -6C at Exeter so clearly we'd abandon both if we were racing today.

"We're hoping for a bit of luck on our side. I'd say we're a 50-50 for the inspection at Wincanton, I'm clinging to some hope in passing that inspection looking at the forecast.

"Exeter is even more likely [to go ahead]. We'll need to inspect and we're working out the timings but it'll be a Saturday look and we'll go from there."

Wincanton's Saturday card is '50:50' according to the clerk of the course Daniel CooperCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Fairyhouse manager Peter Roe said: "The chances of racing are slim on Saturday. We will work with Horse Racing Ireland to run the fixture as soon as possible.

"We were fit to race at 2pm on Thursday but we weren’t fit to race at 11am. The cold forecast on Thursday and Friday night makes our prospects of racing on Saturday look bleak."

No inspection is planned for Kempton's Saturday card, which will feature two Grade 2s and the Ladbrokes Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle, with the ground good to soft, soft in places on the chase course and soft, good to soft in places on the hurdles track.

Saturday's all-weather fixture that was due to be held at Chelmsford as a twilight meeting has now been switched to the afternoon, with the first race set to go off at 1.30pm. Two more races have been added to the card, making it a nine-race fixture.

Sunday's fixture at Naas features the Grade 1 Lawlor's Of Naas Novice Hurdle, with racecourse manager Eamonn McEvoy suggesting "the Gods are going against it".

He said: "We are hopeful but the Gods are going against it. There doesn’t seem to be much of a thaw around and we are taking it very much day by day.

"If we do have to postpone, we would hope to get the meeting run in the middle of next week. I think that would be important given the position of some of the races in the calendar, especially the Lawlor’s Of Naas Grade 1 Novice Hurdle."

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