Wetherby faces early inspection ahead of meeting

Wetherby's clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson.

The going on Sunday was described as heavy, soft in places, but there are a couple of areas of standing water in the back straight which are frozen.

Clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson said: “It was barely raceable, if at all, on Saturday. Today we wouldn’t have raced as it’s frozen in places and we’ve still got standing water in places as well as they are frozen too.

“We’ve got snowy, sleeting rain all Sunday afternoon.

“It’s going to warm up on Monday so frost isn’t going to be an issue, it depends what condition the ground is in after all that.

“We really needed it to be dry from the end of last week all the way through to racing and there’s rain forecast Monday night as well. Conditions aren’t particularly favourable and if tomorrow conditions haven’t improved, or it won’t improve with more rain forecast, we could make a decision in the morning.

“If it’s all improving, we’ll keep going.”

Lingfield has already fallen foul of the weather, with the National Hunt fixture scheduled for today abandoned due to standing water on the track.

Course officials called an 8am inspection for Sunday to assess conditions after persistent rain for a number of days.

A further 5mm fell during Saturday, with more overnight into Sunday, and another 5-10mm forecast.

Boite secured his place in the record books as he became the first horse to win since the publication of certain wind surgeries became mandatory.

New British Horseracing Authority regulations came into force on Friday meaning that trainers must declare if a horse had undergone any of five specified procedures since its last run.

Boite’s victory in the Bathwick Tyres Seniors’ Handicap Hurdle at Taunton the following day marked the first occasion any such competitor had won.

Winning trainer Warren Greatrex said: “He has had a wind op before and he had the same operation a year or so ago. He ran at Wincanton (last time) and Gavin (Sheehan) said he was struggling, so we got it done and that was his first run back. I’m very happy.”