Frost claims Newcastle card

Newcastle have been forced to abandon Saturday's exciting card of racing due to severe frost in the North East.

A planned inspection at the track was put back from 8am to 9am on Saturday morning to increase the chances of thawing after severe overnight frost.

However, after plummeting temperatures, the course did not recover and clerk of the course James Armstrong had no chance but to abandon.

The highlight of the day was going to be the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle, and the abandonment is a huge loss for Newcastle.

"It's very disappointing news unfortunately, it's still minus five in places on the far side and sadly we haven't got an option as the ground is not safe at all," said Armstrong.

"The Met Office are telling us it is not going to get to zero or plus one before midday.

Cards

"It was certainly one of the best cards I have seen at Newcastle in recent times and everyone is gutted.

"We have a handful of Irish horses all desperate to run and it is a huge disappointment to everybody, including WBX.COM, our sponsors, and to everyone who has brought their horses over.

"Three days ago I was more concerned about the rainfall as we were told we would get heavy rain today, it's amazing how it has changed in such a short space of time.

"We were told to expect minus three so we covered a lot of areas round the back on the take offs and landings but often when we get a frost here we tend to get three or four degrees colder than what we are forecast.

"If the race ("Fighting Fifth") is to be saved we would need to find a suitable venue and timing is an issue as there are so many decent races on at the moment - the Christmas Hurdle is not that far away so it will be difficult to reschedule I would suspect."