Officials at Newbury have covered the entire course in a bid to give their Betfair Super Saturday meeting every chance of beating the freezing weather.

Clerk of the course Keith Ottesen was happy with the state of the track on Monday and reported the ground to be soft as they prepare for arctic conditions.

“We’ve covered the track. It’s a big job. We put them down on Sunday and we’re just finishing off in a few places today,” said Ottesen.

“It’s quite cold. We’re all right today, it’s soft ground.

“The forecast is for it to be very cold all week. We’ll just keep an eye on it and hope for the best.

“We will monitor it closely all week. We’ve done what we can and we’ll hope for the best.”

Saturday is one of Newbury’s biggest meetings of the winter, featuring the Betfair Hurdle, the Betfair Denman Chase and the Betfair Cheltenham Free Bet Pot Builder Chase, registered as the Game Spirit.

The week began on a cold note with today’s scheduled jumps meetings at Plumpton and Carlisle both abandoned after failing early-morning inspections.

The course at Carlisle was frozen, with the frost at Plumpton compounded by a covering of snow.

In Ireland, the card at Fairyhouse did pass its morning inspection — but it was announced at the same time that tomorrow’s scheduled meeting there will not take place, because the inside track set to be used then is waterlogged.

Tomorrow’s jumps meeting at Market Rasen has been abandoned due to snow following an inspection today.

“Unfortunately following heavy snowfall overnight and this morning, the track is now snow-covered and unraceable. With further snow forecast and sub-zero temperatures between now and racing, there is little chance for improvement,” the Lincolnshire course announced on their Twitter feed.

The UK’s other jumps meeting tomorrow is at Taunton, but that is subject to a precautionary inspection at 8am on race day.

The course was frost free today morning, but temperatures are set to dip to -3°C overnight and are likely to struggle to get above freezing tomorrow.

The going is described as soft, heavy in places.

Doncaster’s jumps meeting on Thursday is in doubt. Officials looked at the course at 8am this morning as the track is currently unraceable.

It is waterlogged with standing water in places and a light covering of snow.

Further snow is forecast with temperatures tomorrow not to set rise above +2°C and overnight lows of -4°C.