Fighting Fifth gets green light as Newcastle passes morning inspection

Newcastle has passed this morning's ground inspection and today's meeting will go ahead, which features the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle (2.05).

Frost had threatened to scupper the course's flagship raceday with temperatures falling below zero overnight, but the track was covered and that looks to have made the difference with the going officially described as heavy.

View today's Newcastle racecard here

Clerk of the course James Armstrong said on Saturday morning: "The ground will be testing but I think the fleece we put down and good covering of grass has saved the day.

"As of 8am it is still -3.5C and it was -4 at the lowest last night, with temperatures set to go positive from about 10am, but we're starting to lift the sheets of fleece now as we need to be ready for the first race at 11.45am.

"We've been lucky. Had we raced another meeting on it we might have been in a different situation but the good news is we're good to go."

The Fighting Fifth is Newcastle's only Grade 1, with the Nicky Henderson-trained Buveur D'Air bidding to become the first horse to secure three consecutive victories in the race since Comedy Of Errors 45 years ago. Read the race preview here.

For the freshest betting advice, based on latest going and market conditions, don't miss the Live Tipster every afternoon. Just click Raceday Live at racingpost.com or the mobile app