WETHERBY suffered a double festive blow when for the second time in two years its two-day Christmas meeting was wiped out by the weather.

Today’s meeting at Wetherby followed that of yesterday by being abandoned due to a frozen track.

Said clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson, “We got to minus 4C at the track overnight and the course is still frozen solid.

“There was not enough of the advanced forecast warmth to give us a chance.”

Wetherby was one of seven Boxing Day meetings wiped out by snow, frost and ice, including Kempton, which means that Kauto Star’s bid to land a record fifth successive William Hill King George VI Chase has been put on ice.

Paul Nicholls’ brilliant chaser will have to wait until Kempton’s next jumps meeting on Saturday, January 15 to go one better than Desert Orchid, who won the Boxing Day feature four times in 1986 and then from 1988 to 1990.

The relevant parties acted to quickly to save the King George and the Christmas Hurdle after both days of the festive fixture fell foul of the big freeze.

The Sunbury track, with the help of the British Horseracing Authority, sponsors William Hill and the Levy Board, managed to re-schedule the two contests.

Kempton’s managing director Amy Starkey said: “Everyone did all they could to get racing on, but the elements defeated us.”