Saturday's racing at Fairyhouse, Newbury and Doncaster goes ahead after all three tracks survived early morning inspections.

This afternoon’s Coral Gold Cup card at Newbury will go ahead as planned following a precautionary inspection.

The entire track was covered again after racing on Friday and was reported to be frost free underneath at inspection time.

Officials will, however, continue to monitor conditions with a further drop in temperatures expected before day break.

It was positive news, too, from Fairyhouse, where day one of the track’s Winter Festival also passed an inspection.

The IHRB issued a statement before 8am to say: "Following an inspection this morning, Fairyhouse is fit for racing and the fixture scheduled for today, Saturday 2nd December, goes ahead as scheduled. The ground at Fairyhouse is now soft, yielding to soft in places (Hurdle/Bumper) and remains soft (Chase) with temperatures of three to four degrees today."

Doncaster got the green light shortly after a second inspection at 9am, which was needed in order to check temperatures were rising sufficiently to lift the fleece covering the course.

Scotland and the north of England has been badly affected by the cold snap. Racing at Musselburgh and Doncaster on Friday was cancelled due to frost, and at 2.30pm officials at Newcastle pulled the plug on Saturday’s Fighting Fifth card.

The Fighting Fifth Hurdle is set to be run at Sandown next Saturday.

Prospects for Sunday’s glittering card at Fairyhouse appear to be good. Met Éireann is predicting “lowest temperatures of -3C to 2C” on Saturday night” rising to between 1C and 5C on Sunday.