ICY conditions and travel problems faced by trainers caused a host of abandonments on Saturday plus a spate of cancellations on Sunday as the bad weather returned.

Crayford made an early decision to call off Saturday evening’s meeting having raced earlier in the day, with a spokesman saying: Following an assessment of weather conditions, tonight’s meeting has been cancelled.

A Met Office prediction of heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures throughout surrounding areas would affect trainers, colleagues and customers travelling home safely late on Saturday evening so an early decision has been taken to cancel.

Racing did take place at a number of tracks around the UK, although deteriorating weather conditions later caused Romford, Shawfield and Sheffield to curtail racing. Other tracks shortened the time between races to achieve an earlier finish.

Towcester had been scheduled to stage the final of the Astute Electronics Gold Cup final, for which Dorotas Widlcat (pictured above) was favourite, but postponed the meeting mid-evening without a race being run. The final could now be staged next week with the Gain/GTA Trainers’ Championship meeting set to be delayed a month.

Announcing that Sunday’s meeting at the Northamptonshire venue had also been cancelled, racing manager Chris Page said: The weather hasn’t relented, and the wind chill factor continues to bring temperatures down. It’s a combination of track and travel issues forcing us to make the early call.

The trackstaff last night played a blinder. They worked hard in deteriorating conditions and were able to complete a full programme of trials, albeit these were delayed for a variety of reasons – of which the weather was, of course, one.

It was with great reluctance that staff here last night called off the meeting, but we had the full support of Geoff Hill, who is sponsor of the Astute Electronics Gold Cup, and we will now look to stage what will be a gala meeting next weekend.

It will necessitate moving the Trainers’ Championship meeting on, and I am in the process of ringing the trainers to work on a suitable date. The third week of April, after the Scottish Derby, but before the Derby starts, has been suggested as a possible date. We are looking at April 21.

However, this needs to be fully agreed by the sponsors, trainers involved, and the GBGB. We will be working on that over the next couple of days. It will also require for us to move the traditional Trainers’ Championship lunch to the midweek before the new date.

Perry Barr’s afternoon meeting on Sunday was also cancelled. Racing manager Martin Seal said: The track is raceable, but we have trainers stuck in rural areas and not able to travel. They are effectively snowed-in, again, by the ‘Beast from the East’!

Doncaster racing manager Stephen Gray again reported travel as the major issue for cancelling their morning meeting: It’s the trainers getting to and from the track which is the major problem, although we’ve had plenty of snow, with drifting in places, and the track itself has patches of ice.

Therefore, all in all, it’s the correct decision to abandon and concentrate on the next meeting tomorrow. It gives us time to clear the track, clear it of ice, and have it in the best possible shape for the greyhounds. That’s the main priority.

It was a similar story for Pelaw Grange’s afternoon meeting, with racing manager David Gray reporting: We had plenty of snow here in the north-east yesterday and more through the night. The roads are pretty treacherous this morning and further flurries at the track are forecast.