Market Rasen clerk of the course Jane Hedley brought forward a planned 1pm inspection after seeing little improvement in conditions.

"As the morning wore on, it became increasingly obvious it was a no-brainer to abandon the meeting," she said.

"It hasn't got above 2C all day so far and we're not expecting it to get much higher.

"We're forecast another night of temperatures of between -2C and -3C and we might get a shower of snow on top of that.''

By that time, Sedgefield had already gone by the wayside due to frost and snow.

Tomorrow's meetings at Down Royal, Carlisle and Ludlow have all been called off.

Down Royal was due to stage a seven-race card but officials have concluded there is little chance of the track being fit to race after temperatures dropped well below freezing overnight.

A statement from the Irish Turf Club said: "The Turf Club has announced that the fixture scheduled for Down Royal on Wednesday, February 4 has been cancelled due to frost.

"The temperature at Down Royal is presently -6C and is not set to rise during today, while another severe frost is predicted overnight."

Carlisle officials had called an 8am inspection due the current cold snap but they decided to abandon the meeting earlier than expected.

Temperatures reportedly dropped to -9C overnight with further cold weather forecast.

Ludlow officials were due to inspect the course at 8am but have made an earlier decision after a further frost at the track overnight.

The track tweeted: "Racing abandoned tomorrow, course frozen. Further frost forecast tonight."

Thursday's meeting at Huntingdon must pass an 8am inspection tomorrow morning if it is to go ahead.

Clerk of the course Sulekha Varma reports the track to be covered in snow at present with the possibility of further snow and temperatures forecast to drop below freezing again ovenight.

She tweeted: "Inspection at 8am at Huntingdon, currently covered in around one inch of snow."