Nomadic to miss Newbury

Noel Meade will not be represented in tomorrow's Tote Gold Trophy at Newbury.

The trainer, who has already ruled Nomadic out of the £100,000 handicap, said at yesterday's meeting at Thurles: "Snow Dragon will not now be going for the Tote Gold Trophy because we are concerned about the weather.

"He will possibly go to England later on in the season, more likely to Aintree than Cheltenham as he prefers a flat track."

Meade will, however, definitely run Hill Society at the Cheltenham Festival without having a prep race in the meantime.

"He is best fresh and he will be entered in the Cathcart Cup as well as the Queen Mother Champion Chase - which is his preferred race at this stage," the trainer said.

Racing looks set to resume at Bangor and Newbury today. Frost has put paid to all turf cards for the past three days but temperatures are forecast to improve in the runup towards the weekend.

The going at Newbury is currently described as good to soft on the hurdle course, which could ride a little dead, and good to soft on the chase course with a soft patch between the first and second fences in the straight.

Prospects for racing at Ayr tomorrow have improved dramatically, while Haydock expect no problems. However, Catterick have announced a 4 p.m. inspection today for their meeting tomorrow.