BHA delays talks on rescheduling Tolworth.

Byline: Lee Mottershead

TALKS on the rescheduling of the Tolworth Hurdle are to be delayed until tomorrow at the earliest due to fears that Saturday's showpiece jumps fixtures could meet the same fate as yesterday's abandoned Sandown card, writes Lee Mottershead.

The Blue Square-sponsored Grade 1, Britain's most prestigious novice hurdle prior to the Cheltenham Festival, had been set to highlight a meeting that was abandoned after a 10am inspection revealed parts of the track, which had been protected by frost covers, were frozen solid.

Channel 4-televised fixtures at Warwick and Kempton on Saturday were quickly identified as potential new homes for the Tolworth, but BHA spokesman Paul Struthers said: "Because of the extreme weather forecast for the next seven to 14 days, there is no point in looking at the Tolworth until Monday at the earliest, when we will see what is under threat and what might not be under threat. However, it could be that we don't take a decision until later in the week."

Sandown clerk of the course Andrew Cooper was forced to pull the plug on racing after a - 6C chill penetrated the weather blankets. Cooper said: "There is almost an expectation that frost covers guarantee that a meeting will take place, but this abandonment gives us a bit of a reality check.

"The covers were deployed on Friday on a totally raceable track, but they haven't coped. We have learned today about the capacity of these covers to cope with certain temperatures - they can help to get a meeting on, but they can't guarantee it."

CAPTION(S):

Ground staff peel back the frost covers at Sandown yesterday morning to reveal an unexpectedly frozen track EDWARD WHITAKER