Snow joke at Ascot

This afternoon's fixture at Ascot has been abandoned because of snow - with a 4pm inspection also planned ahead of Saturday's meeting.The Berkshire course was hit with between three to four inches of overnight snow, prompting officials to move forward their proposed 8am inspection. Although frost covers were deployed over the whole track, clerk of the course Chris Stickels was soon resigned to the loss of today's meeting.He said: "It was a pretty straightforward decision to abandon today. It's been windy and the snow has drifted. There was no way we could get that volume of snow off the covers in time."Ascot are also due to stage a valuable card on Saturday, featuring the BGC Long Walk Hurdle and the Ladbroke, but that meeting is also in serious jeopardy.Stickels added: "We've got a little bit more snow to come, so we are going to take a look at 4pm this afternoon."It won't be easy to race tomorrow, but it may be possible. We need to assess things in the cold light of day."