Catterick's North Yorkshire Grand National off due to snow with Wetherby meeting also in jeopardy

The track took an early decision to cancel the meeting on Tuesday morning when an inspection found the course covered in snow and unfit for racing.

It is a difficult decision to call on oneself, particularly when racecourses across Yorkshire and the United Kingdom face increasingly challenging financial headwinds year on year. But they were left with no option by a cold snap that is wreaking havoc with the racing scene in the early days of 2025.

Clerk of the course Fiona Needham told The Yorkshire Post: “Obviously it’s our premier jumps day, the richest day of the year for jumps racing at Catterick so it’s desperately disappointing but unfortunately the forecast has not been great in the lead up so it’s not surprising.

“It was a good entry and looked like it should have been a good race.”

Needham did not want to put a figure on how much the abandonment costs the course in income, but did admit that it leaves them playing catch-up over the coming months.

She was quick to point out that Catterick was able to stage its New Year’s Day card in better weather than anticipated last week, with racecourses conditioned to taking the rough with the smooth at this time of year.

“It’s jump racing in the middle of winter, you’ve got to expect it to happen,” said Needham, whose course last lost the North Yorkshire Grand National meeting in the first winter of Covid due to snow on the day of the meeting.

“As we all know generally it’s got quite milder and we’ve been quite lucky, but it’s a proper cold snap this time.”

“Obviously it’s our premier day, but with it being a Thursday in January it’s not our biggest crowd day, but it does set us off on the back foot a bit, which is a bit disappointing really.

“There’s a long way to go. We raced New Year’s Day, it wasn’t a great forecast but it turned into not too bad a day weather-wise, and we have 26 fixtures in total so a long way to go yet.”

Another big meeting in Yorkshire looks set to fall foul of the weather on Saturday.

The William Hill Towton Novices’ Chase meeting at Wetherby looks in serious trouble, with the course not only covered in snow but also extensively flooded and frozen.

Clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson quipped: “Prospects are slimmer than me!”

Officials at Warwick and Kempton are preparing for a “challenging” week as the cold snap threatens jumps racing in Britain for the second Saturday in succession.

Meetings at Newcastle, Sandown and Wincanton all went by the wayside last weekend and while there was a brief return to National Hunt action at Chepstow on Sunday, that only lasted two races. Warwick is due to stage one of its highest-profile meetings of the year on Saturday.

Friday’s jumping fare is also under threat, with Doncaster and Huntingdon inspecting at 8am and 8.30am respectively on Wednesday.