ITV4 action hit as Market Rasen cancelled due to frost after three inspections

Market Rasen's Friday meeting was cancelled due to a frozen track after a third inspection just an hour before the opener.

Temperatures dipped to a low of -3.9C at the Lincolnshire course at 7am, and despite hitting 1.5C before midday, the surface was not deemed safe for the meeting to go ahead.

Officials found there to be frost patches in the ground, creating an inconsistent racing surface, during a third inspection at 11.30am.

Clerk of the course Jack Pryor said: "Unfortunately we had some severe frost overnight and there wasn't much improvement at our first inspection at 8am and there were still some issues when we looked again at 10am.

"We decided to have a third inspection at 11.30am to give the fixture every opportunity. A committee of trainers, jockeys and officials went out to look at the track and unfortunately they decided there was still enough frost in the ground to abandon the meeting.

"We put down covers on all the shaded and worn areas, but the frost even got into certain areas despite having the sheets down. We looked at all the options of taking out fences but unfortunately we deemed it wasn't feasible to bypass the areas that needed to be to get racing on safely.

"We don't enjoy making these decisions at all and want to make them early as possible, but at the same time we want racing to go ahead. We gave it every chance but unfortunately it didn't work out on this occasion."

ITV4 had planned to show four races from Market Rasen alongside coverage of the Winter Million festival at Lingfield, where temperatures rose sufficiently for the meeting to go ahead.

ITV4 are covering the cards from Lingfield on Friday and Sunday, bookending a terrific weekend of free-to-air racing which also includes top-class action at Ascot and Haydock on Saturday.

New Sky Bet customers can get £20 in free bets. New customers only. First single & e/w bet only. Odds of 1/1 or greater. 2 x £10 bet tokens. Free bet stakes not included in returns. Free bets exclude virtuals. Free bets are non-withdrawable. No free bet expiry. Eligibility restrictions. Further T&Cs apply. 18+. begambleaware.org.