This afternoon’s meetings at Cork, Sandown and Wincanton have been abandoned due to frozen tracks.

Following an inspection on Saturday morning, the track at Cork was found to be unfit for racing due to overnight frost.

Val O’Connell, IHRB Clerk of the Course at Cork, said: “Following another night of frost unfortunately the track at Cork is unfit for racing following our inspection this morning.

“Temperatures got to minus two again overnight parts of the track are frozen at present. It remains below freezing at present and without there being a sufficient rise in temperatures prior to our first race at 12.30pm, we have no option but to cancel the fixture.

“The team at Cork Racecourse will liaise with Horse Racing Ireland about a date for rescheduling this meeting in due course.”

A forecast combination of frost and even fog had given Sandown officials cause for concern on Friday, leaving clerk of the course Andrew Cooper to announce a precautionary 7.30am inspection.

With temperatures minus 2C since midnight and still minus 2C around inspection time and not expected to be above freezing until 11am, an early decision was able to made with the course frozen in places.

At Wincanton, an inspection was brought forward after temperatures fell to minus 4.2C overnight, leaving the Somerset track frozen in places and unraceable.

Newcastle’s jumps card scheduled for today was abandoned on Friday, leaving a blank day of National Hunt action in Britain and Ireland.

A spokesperson for the British Horseracing Authority commented: "It is regrettable that all three scheduled afternoon jumps meetings have been abandoned, leaving us with a blank afternoon today. The BHA has monitored the situation throughout the week, including communicating with colleagues at Sandown, Newcastle and Wincanton, and ultimately took the decision not to reschedule another meeting into the afternoon time slot. Unfortunately, the weather has gone against us on this occasion.

“The BHA understands the significance of ensuring that there is live racing on free-to-air television on Saturday afternoons and works hard to ensure this is the case, and will continue to do so in future. However, when circumstances remain challenging, and race times cannot be brought forward by Rule following the declaration stage, there is always some limitation on what can be done to remedy the situation.”

Chepstow and Plumpton are due to race on Sunday, as is Naas, but there will be a 7.30am inspection at Naas on Sunday morning, due to the possibility of snow.

There will also be 8am inspections ahead of both point-to-point fixtures scheduled to take place on Sunday. Racing is scheduled to take place in Tinahely, Co Wicklow and Ballindenisk, Co Cork.