Wetherby look for big thaw to rescue racing on Saturday

Clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson has said that he will even make a final decision on the morning of the meeting if there's a chance of racing taking place.

Another update will be issued today at the track which has already lost three fixtures because of the Arctic weather.

Realistically, there's little prospect of National Hunt racing returning to some semblance of normality until the middle of next week.

Inspections at 8am today will determine the fate of tomorrow's meetings at Huntingdon and Musselburgh, with the latter course also due to race on Saturday.

Meanwhile Saturday's jumping action at Warwick is already off and Kempton is also in jeopardy, though the Sunbury venue is preparing to stage an all-bumper card on its all-weather circuit where Punjabi, the reigning Champion Hurdler, is an intriguing entry.

Even this offers no guarantees; Lingfield's all-weather meeting was abandoned yesterday because surrounding roads were inaccessible in the snow.

And, despite a bullish outlook earlier this week, the prognosis is now bleak for Sunday's card at Ffos Las. An inspection will take place at 8am today.

Looking further ahead, Monday's meeting at Fakenham is subject to a midday inspection tomorrow.

Officials at Wolverhampton have called a precautionary inspection at 6.30am ahead of this afternoon's meeting.