King George Chase

Despite a forecast for wintery weather Kempton Park officials are confident the King George Chase and the William Hill Winter Festival will go ahead.

Brian Clifford, clerk of the course at Kempton Park, said that while the weather forecast predicted a likelihood of snow showers to hit the course that they would take all suitable precautions in order to protect the ground and will lay down special frost mats.

“I’m very optimistic the King George will go ahead,” Clifford said.

“We were raceable on Wednesday despite temperatures dropping to -4C the previous night.

“The King George card has not been called off in my 10 years here, although it was transferred to Sandown in 2005 while the course was redeveloped.

“The frost covers insulate the ground and we have twice managed to have fixtures during my time here despite snowfall, so I’m very optimistic,” Clifford added.