Doncaster hopeful Lincoln meeting will beat weather

DONCASTER’S clerk of the course Roderick Duncan is “optimistic” this weekend’s rescheduled William Hill Lincoln meeting will beat the weather at the second attempt.

The Town Moor circuit staged the first day of the Flat turf season on Friday after passing a morning inspection, but snow on Friday night led to the fixture on Saturday being abandoned. The British Horseracing Authority gave the green light to the card being moved to this weekend and Duncan is pleased to report a significant improvement of conditions.

Duncan told At The Races yesterday: “It’s overcast and temperatures aren’t quite where we’d like, but we had a little bit of a thaw yesterday (Sunday) and I would say it (the ground) is no worse now than it was Friday morning. There is snow on the track, but a lot of the snow has gone and you can see quite a bit of grass now. You would struggle to race today, but it’s improved a lot from Saturday.

“We’re really grateful to all our sponsors, William Hill especially, for standing by us and the BHA has put an enormous amount of effort in to getting this meeting rescheduled. There’s reason to be optimistic.”

Today’s National Hunt meeting at Fontwell will have to pass a 7am inspection if it is to go ahead.

The West Sussex circuit was perfectly raceable yesterday but freezing temperatures overnight has prompted clerk of the course Edward Arkell to announce an early-morning check. He said: “Everything is fine at the moment and the ground is heavy. We have frost covers on all the take-offs and landings and other vulnerable areas.”