Lingfield remains optimistic that Sunday’s schedule will proceed as planned

Excitement Builds for Final Day of Lingfield’s Winter Million Festival

The eagerly anticipated final day of Lingfield’s Winter Million Festival is set to go ahead as planned, but not without a precautionary inspection on raceday. The three-day fixture was initially scheduled to kick off with a jumps card on Friday; however, the frosty track forced its cancellation. Fortunately, Saturday’s middle day on the all-weather faced no issues.

As temperatures rise in anticipation of Sunday’s National Hunt action, an afternoon inspection was called on Saturday to assess ground conditions. This check demonstrated significant improvement in the track’s condition.

Charlie Moore, head of clerking at Arena Racing Company and speaking exclusively to ITV Racing, expressed his relief: “The forecast has given us trouble this week – it has been four degrees off two nights in a row! It’s incredible that this track managed to withstand temperatures as low as minus 8C and minus 7C in recent nights.”

If racing had taken place today, adjustments could have made the track raceable. Despite being confident about passing the inspection, officials decided to conduct another examination at 8am tomorrow morning as temperatures were expected to touch freezing point later tonight.

“If our forecasts hold true,” said Moore optimistically, “we’ll be texting everyone around seven o’clock tomorrow morning saying ‘we’re on’. I would be extremely surprised and enormously disappointed if racing did not take place tomorrow.”