2025 is only a few days old, but the New Year has brought with it freezing temperatures across the UK, which has resulted in several horse racing meetings coming under threat.
Lingfield and Musselburgh Held Inspections For Friday’s Cards
It might be an all weather card at Lingfield on Friday, but with freezing temperatures forecast for the Surrey area on Friday – this has led to the multi-purpose horse racing track calling an inspection at 7:30am on the day of racing (3rd Jan 2025).
In contrast, the other all weather fixture on Friday at Southwell are reporting no issues at the moment.
However, the jumping card at Musselburgh in Scotland is also under threat – and after FOUR inspections that ranged from Thursday at 4pm to Friday at 12 noon – the fixture is unfortunately OFF, due to frozen ground.
The good news though is that Lingfield PASSED their morning inspection so the Surrey venue will race today.
At Lingfield the Met Office predicted overnight temperatures to be between -1 and -4, with the maximum temperature to hit only 3 degrees at around 1pm on Friday afternoon.
Despite Lingfield racing on the all weather, the freezing conditions still impacts the track, with the polytrack prone to clogging up and getting stuck under the horse’s hooves.
You can keep updated with all the upcoming cancelled horse racing meetings in the UK and Ireland here.
RACING GOES AHEAD ✅
This morning’s Precautionary Inspection has been passed. Conditions will continue to be monitored throughout the morning. Temperatures reached a low of -5.5 overnight but is due to be above 0C from 10am. pic.twitter.com/GZIklj6Xtq
— Lingfield Park (@LingfieldPark) January 3, 2025
Horse Racing: Friday 3rd January 2025
- Lingfield (AW) – Passed Friday morning inspection
- Musselburgh – Called OFF
- Southwell (AW)
Musselburgh Track Frozen In Places, And Now Called OFF
North of the border in Scotland, Musselburgh are set to stage a seven-race card that starts at 12:27pm.
However, the track are reporting the ground as soft, but frozen in places – which led to a 4pm inspection on Thursday 2nd January – the day before racing.
This led to another 8am Friday morning look and then with officials still unsure about racing – a further 12noon look is needed, but the bad news is things didn’t improve and Musselburgh is now OFF.
The East Lothian venue is expecting minus temperatures overnight, with this rising to only 3 degrees during the day.
Moving onto Saturday, there are no reported issues at the moment at the main jumping cards at Sandown and Wincanton, but track officials are sure to have one eye on the weather forecasts with cold snaps heading their way too.
🚨 Official: Musselburgh abandoned 🚨 pic.twitter.com/zzdQaJ0uZC
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 3, 2025
