Tuesday's UK jump action frozen off

The cold snap in Britain has seen the abandonment of Tuesday's meetings at Market Rasen and Sedgefield.

Since last Thursday, National Hunt action has been badly curtailed, with Ayr managing to beat the freeze as their scheduled meeting goes ahead on Monday.

Officials at Newbury hope their decisive early action in putting down frost covers will enable the course to beat the weather ahead of their big meeting on Saturday next.

The likes of Long Run, Sprinter Sacre, Cue Card and Zarkandar are all due to turn up in Berkshire at the weekend for their final starts before the Cheltenham Festival.

Clerk of the course Richard Osgood said on Sunday afternoon: "We had no more than one centimetre of snow last night, and most of that has melted on the racing line.

"The forecasts for the rest of this week vary, but there is no more snow, by the looks of it.

"There is also a chance of drizzle, which means the temperatures are rising and it will help get rid of the snow."

"It's too far out to make a prediction yet, but hopefully putting the covers down early will be a massive help - I wanted them down before the first frost."