Tony McCoy is facing a nail-biting wait as the current cold snap continues to play havoc with National Hunt racing.

The champion jockey is chasing his 3000th career success but is stuck on 2998 at present as his progress has been hindered by adverse weather over the last week.

He has four rides booked at Carlisle today but that meeting hinges on the track passing an 8am inspection after a 3pm check yesterday proved inconclusive.

"We are raceable at the moment but we have a -3C forecast for tonight," said clerk of the course Andrew Tulloch yesterday. "We'll have a look again at 8am tomorrow because the temperatures are supposed to drop pretty sharply.

If the forecast is accurate, we'd be touch and go."

Ludlow was also due to stage jumps action but that fixture was abandoned following an 8am inspection.

"We have got five-and-a-half inches of snow on the track at the moment and there is further snow showers and frost forecast," said clerk of the course Bob Davies.

Yesterday's card at Sedgefield was also lost as melted snow left the track waterlogged.

"We have had an amazing thaw overnight and there is virtually no snow on the track," said clerk of the course Charlie Moore. "Unfortunately, this has left us waterlogged and there are too many false areas of ground. This was always going to be the worry and it is disappointing."

Racing at Huntingdon tomorrow is already in some doubt. "We had an inch of snow but that has now thawed and the problem is frost," said clerk of the course Andrew Morris last night.

"We are forecast to get down to -2C tonight and another frost is forecast on Wednesday. It will only get to +2C or +3C and if the forecast is correct, we would be struggling."

There is better news for Taunton though, with managing director John Hills confident the meeting will take place. "At the moment our prospects are very good," he said.

"We had completely thawed by 2.30pm and we are not really forecast any frost.

"The only possible danger is a snow flurry on Thursday morning but I'd be extremely confident at this stage."

Prospects for Newbury's valuable card on Saturday are now much more upbeat than was the case earlier in the week when much of the country was blanketed in snow. "I'm a lot more encouraged now than I was this morning," said clerk of the course Richard Osgood.

"Most of the snow has now melted from on top of the frost sheets. It is forecast to get to -2C tonight but the frost covers are now back doing their original job," he added.

"Tomorrow night it will be hovering around zero but Friday night it will be a bit colder, -2C or -3C.

"The saving grace is that the temperatures on Saturday are expected be as high as +4C or +5C, which will give us a chance."