11.30am Weather woes mean no jump racing till at least Thursday
Tony Paley: The weather continues to have a major impact on jump racing fixtures and the ice and snow prevalent around the country means there will be no National Hunt racing on Wednesday following the abandonment the meetings at Ludlow and Carlisle.
Thursday’s meeting at Doncaster, where the course is frozen in places, is subject to an inspection at 12pm on Wednesday while Huntingdon must pass an 8am inspection on Wednesday if it is to go ahead. Huntingdon clerk of the course Sulekha Varma reports the track to be covered in snow at present with the possibility of further snow and temperatures forecast to drop below freezing again ovenight. She tweeted: “Inspection at 8am at Huntingdon, currently covered in around one inch of snow.”
Prospects for Doncaster’s meeting have improved. Clerk of the course Roderick Duncan had little hope on Monday that the meeting would survive, but an improvement in the forecast and the prospect of a little rain means he is now far more hopeful. Duncan also feels the going, currently described as good to soft, could be even quicker than that once the frost has left the ground.
“The forecast certainly gives us reason to be hopeful,” said Duncan. “At this stage you just couldn’t call it either way, but there’s a chance the ground could be even better than what I’m calling it at the moment as when I walked it last night there was still a bit of frost in it.
“At 5pm yesterday I thought we had very little hope, but if the forecast is correct and we get a bit of rain, then we’ve a chance. Either way it will be difficult to call at midday so I suspect we’ll be looking again on Thursday morning.”
The other jump smeeting scheduled for Thursday is at Taunton where frost covers have been deployed.
Kempton’s jumps meeting on Friday is subject to an 8am inspection on Thursday while the prospects for action at Newcastle on the same day do not sound good. Clerk of the course James Armstrong tweeted: “All bare and exposed areas frozen. Some temperature lift expected as of tomorrow, but a lot of improvement required.”
The jumps course at Kempton is currently covered by a layer of snow, but clerk of the course Barney Clifford does not expect any problems for the all-weather track, which races on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We’re currently moving the snow from the all-weather track and that should be fine,” said Clifford. “Unfortunately we have a carpet of 3cm of snow on the turf track. The forecast is for temperatures to reach 4C or 5C today but it doesn’t feel like that at the moment.
“We’re just monitoring the situation and will give it every possible chance. We didn’t cover the jumps track because of the forecast of snow because once that freezes on top of the covers, you can’t shift it. We’ll let nature take its course but there’s not actually that much frost in the ground underneath the snow.”
Should the jumps card be abandoned, a six-race all-weather fixture will be staged.
Tuesday’s best bets, by Tony Paley
Michael Appleby continues to send out the winners with regularity on the all-weather and Katie Gale (2.30) should be able to add to his impressive total at Southwell. The long absence and the drop in trip could persuade some to oppose but she’s defied a lay-off before and looks capable of winning at this 12 furlongs.
The fitting of blinkers to Ifittakesforever (4.25) brought about the desired improvement last time out in the son of Kodiac and he is going to take some beating at Kempton if reproducing that form in a visor today off just a 6lb higher mark. The selection was always travelling well the other day and seems sure to go well.
Tipping Competition, day two
Our winners so far:
Monday
John Reel 15-8
Munsarim 9-2
Graphic 11-4
And our leaders are. . .
15244 +5.38
wemeanyounoharm +5.38
Mai11 +5.38
wiggy12 +5.38
. . . who all had the same double, Munsarim and John Reel. Chasing them on +3.63 are jakebuckfast, ianj78 and RickyVillasBeard, who had Graphic and John Reel.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 1.55 Southwell, 3.50 Kempton, 4.05 Southwell.
This week’s prize is a couple of Premier tickets to Ascot for Saturday 14 February, featuring the Ascot Chase, won by Captain Chris, Cue Card and Riverside Theatre in recent years. Thanks to Ascot for offering the prize.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -3.
In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here.
Good luck!
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