By Tony Calvin - 5 January 2026
It is obviously looking dicey at all three planned ITV tracks on Saturday, as you can see from the details below.
Even the potential speed-daters for ITV’s opening Friday Night Live at Wolverhampton could be disappointed given the temperatures – as it is, today’s fixture there, due to start at 4pm, is currently subject to a second inspection at 11.30am (it has now been abandoned, in fact) – not that that will be getting much of an airing in this quarter.
Ignoring the off-track sideshows, betting on all-weather racing is not for me.
The five-day field sizes are very healthy there though (the seven races have attracted between 20 and 42 entries), so the action on the track promises to be very competitive and the prize money is very good for the grades.
But I am no sandman.
We will get the five-day entries for Saturday early on Monday afternoon (ITV are set to show nine races from Kempton, Warwick and Wetherby) , but I’m not sure it is worth doing any ante-post copy on them.
Not only are the meetings in some doubt, but trainers may get cold (er) feet about running their horses in the icy conditions, and that clearly has major betting implications before NRNB kicks in at 10am on Thursday morning when the final fields are posted.
We have no domestic early-closers on Saturday, so punters and bookmakers are starting from scratch.
Kempton’s Brian Clifford said: “We’re not sure how things will play out at this stage.
“We’re currently unraceable and the forecasts keep changing. It was pretty cold here but Sandown nearby was quite lucky with the forecast on Saturday. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
At Warwick, Nessie Chanter (a cracking name that) said: “We were lucky to race on New Year’s Eve and we’ve had freezing conditions ever since, so we haven’t had a window to cover the track.
“It’s going to be -3C/-4C at night until Thursday, then it looks like warming up in the second half of the week, with rain forecast for Thursday and Friday. We’re hopeful we’ll recover in time for Saturday but we’ll need a favourable forecast.”
Wetherby’s Jonjo Sanderson said: “It could be nip and tuck. By Wednesday it will be fairly permafrost, so to speak, then on Thursday it could warm to 4C/5C and if we get a bit of rain it might help advance it.”
Bar just four in Kempton’s 80k Grade 2 Silviniaco Conti Chase (is there an argument for scrapping that at the five-day stage?), the weekend numbers look good.
That said, I haven’t had time to look at the double entries yet.
I have now and the answer is below – plenty.
The revised forecast for the week (as of Tuesday morning) is now for heavy rain at Kempton and Warwick (if L’Homme Presse is confirmed for the Classic Chase here, then not only will just five be in the handicap but My Silver Lining, De Legislator and Gold Clermont won’t be eligible as they will be 15lb out of the handicap) and increased temperatures.
Well, maybe temperatures above freezing…
But it’s been brutally cold up to now obviously, and it’s just a matter of whether the solid ground thaws enough.
Maybe not.
Kempton seem particularly downbeat about their prospects for the weekend after three straight -6 (and colder) nights – it is frozen under the covers there – and Warwick perhaps not far behind in the pessimism stakes (frost is over a centimetre in and more in places), according to interviews on the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Tuesday.
All in all, I see zero reason to get involved ante-post, given the changing weather forecasts and the major doubts.
Eat Twiglets this time, instead of wasted form study perhaps..,,
Back on Thursday with hopefully better news on the weather/course front.
Wetherby are inspecting at 3,30pm today, which probably tells you the story/levels of optimism there.
It failed the inspection, and is off.
I have stolen Warwick and Kempton updates from the Sporting Life website, who had previously stolen them from the Nick Luck Daily podcast (NLD).
Speaking on NLD, Warwick’s clerk of the course Nessie Chanter said: “I’m feeling much punchier today. We were due sub-zero temperatures overnight and the lowest we got was plus 1.4 degrees. We never got into the red and were in the black all night so I feel we’ve bought ourselves 24 hours.
“The thaw has definitely begun, you can tell by the number of pipes that have burst, and it’s come out of the top but is obviously still in below. We’re due an awful lot of moisture Thursday night through to Friday, up to 30 millimetres of rain which we are praying for.
“But there is just a chance that with this low pressure front coming from France, it depends where the two fronts meet and it could turn into snow.
“That would not be positive for us so we’re hoping and praying it’s going to be a lot of rain and its going to be a mess, but fingers crossed we can sneak over the line.”
There is an amber snow warning here from Thursday 8pm to Friday 9am.
Kempton’s clerk of the course Barney Clifford saying: “I’m just walking it now and we’re still frozen I’m afraid. We had ten millimetres of rain overnight and temperatures didn’t get below two degrees but didn’t’ get much higher than four yesterday evening.
“I need a big improvement today and tomorrow with rainfall and temperatures getting above five degrees to try and take this out.”
There is now a 2pm inspection on Thursday here.
GOING: Good (frozen in places)
We have deployed frost covers on all take-off, landings and vulnerable areas.
Thursday morning course update: Sleet. 1mm of rain overnight and a low temp of 0C. 10mm of rain on Wednesday. Forecast: A less cold end to the week with rain, sleet and potentially snow, by Friday and Saturday. Potential for up to 20mm of rain and 3cm to 4cm of snow. Max daytime temp of +5C and min temp of 0C for the remainder of the week.
Weather (yr.no latest): 14mm sleet/rain Thursday; 8.1mm Friday (temperatures improving); Dry and sunny Saturday
GOING: Good to soft (frozen in places)
“The course remain frozen solid in places even after +4C and 2mm rain.”
Wednesday morning course update: Friday night: -2C Saturday night: -2C Sunday night: -4C Monday night: -6C Temps reached +4C on Tuesday, followed by 2mm rain around 6pm and a low of +2C overnight into Wednesday. The outlook for this week remains cold, with a max temp of 4C on Wednesday, which is being hampered by the wind chill. Then we have a further -2C forecast overnight into Thursday, followed by wintery showers and max daytime temps of +2C on Thursday and Friday.
Weather (yr.no latest): Between 0 and -1 overnight all week (highs of up to +3 during day all week)
Rain: 8.7mm Thursday; 9.2mm Friday; 1.6mm Saturday
GOING: Good, good to soft in places (frozen in some areas)
Going Stick 5.7 on Thu 10:00am
Low sun could result in obstacle omission at this fixture
Rails: We will be running on the INNER hurdle track.
Thursday course update: We have had 5mm yesterday and overnight. We have seen significant improvement in the track over the last 24 hours. Temperatures remained above +1c last night. The majority of the track is raceable today, just a few vulnerable areas remain unraceable, and we anticipate further improvement during the day with highs of +4c. Rain starts this afternoon, bringing 20-25mm. Whilst it starts as rain, it could turn to snow overnight. Temperatures reaching +3c tomorrow, could drop a bit lower Friday night, we are ready to cover as many areas as we can tomorrow afternoon if necessary.
Weather (yr.no latest): 17mm Thursday; 8.2mm Friday (temperatures improving); Dry, cold and sunny
1.15pm Warwick: Always Busy, Ballybeen (due to run at Taunton on Thursday if it is on), Begin The Luck, Carriogmoorna Rowan, Dunstall Rambler, Gold For Alec, Idealko, Imperial Bede, Moon Phases, Nedzor, Rule Me In, Tommy Combats, Working On A Dream
1.25pm Wetherby: Edwardstone, Fingle Bridge, Heltenham, Mount Tempest, Richmond Lake, Wade Out – OFF
1.52opm Warwick: Doyen Quest, Hollygrave Cha Cha, King Of Answers, Wade Out
2.08pm Kempton: Doyen Quest, Leader In The Park, Loupe De Maulde, Outlaw Peter, Your Darling
2.25pm Warwick: At The Oche, By The Grace, Getaway With You, Jlair Madrik, Kool Kid, Lions Peak, Love Me, Lunar Orbit, Northanger Abbey, Purple Owl, Time Interval (due to run at Taunton on Thursday)
2.40pm Kempton: Edwardstone
2.55pm Warwick: Myretown
3.17pm Kempton: Country Park, Just Ennemi, Rare Edition, Tapley
3.32pm Warwick: Doughmore Boy, Loup De Maulde
Confusion sorted There seems to be confusion as to why my 20/1 ante-post fancy Grand…
TUESDAY race-by-race copy for Saturday 1.15pm Ascot – First three in the betting are due…
Horse Racing
Greyhounds
Darts
Football
Home