Catterick's New Year's Day race meeting became the latest meeting to fall victim to the current cold snap when it was called off following an inspection this morning.

Racecourse manager John Gundill said: "The result of the 9.00am inspection is that racing tomorrow has been abandoned. Not only is the course frozen but we are now snowbound as well."

Catterick is the 13th meeting to be lost to the weather since Christmas and the 40th of the current jumps season.

This afternoon's Catterick meeting was called off yesterday, as was the meeting at Fontwell.

Hopes for racing anywhere in Britain tomorrow are grim and the bad weather wiped out today's National Hunt programme.

This afternoon's meeting at Cheltenham was abandoned after temperatures dipped sharply overnight and tomorrow's card is also under threat.

Today's only surviving jumps fixture at Warwick was called off after the stewards inspected the track this morning.

Racecourse manager Christian Leech said: "We've abandoned. It got down to -6C last night and there is no chance of the frost coming out of the ground.

"The frost came out enough when we inspected yesterday to give us a glimmer of hope but it was just too cold last night so it's all systems go for our big meeting on January 12."

The only other race meeting scheduled for today was a Flat racing programme on the all-weather surface at Wolverhampton, but even that was in doubt.

There was to be an inspection at Plumpton oday to assess prospects for racing there tomorrow, but the outlook is bleak.

Clerk of the course David McHarg said: "The course wasn't raceable yesterday and it is currently between -4C and -5C and there is frost in the ground."

All other National Hunt race meetings due to take place tomorrow - at Exeter, Leicester and Plumpton - are unlikely to go ahead and inspections were taking place at all venues this afternoon.

In the hope that Southwell's all-weather course lives up to its description and beats the overnight frost, Dancing Mystery is napped to put his best forward in tomorrow's feature race there.

Eric Wheeler's high-class sprinter goes for the £20,000 Bet Direct Tax Free Betting Handicap and has excellent prospects of defying top-weight under Stephen Carson.

A recent narrow defeat by Juwwi at Wolverhampton confirms that Dancing Mystery is in rude health and, previously successful over this course and distance, he promises to take the world of beating in this five furlongs dash.

Another decent prize is up for grabs in the £12,000 Littlewoods Bet Direct Handicap, and Massey, trained near Thirsk by David Barron, and a recent course winner, looks the most likely to pick up the spoils.

Tomorrow's tips:

Southwell

1.45 Dancing Mystery (Nap)

2.20 Massey

Updated: 11:59 Monday, December 31, 2001