THERE will be at an inspection at noon today to determine if tomorrow's meeting at Naas can go ahead. With the track covered in snow yesterday prospects for the meeting are not good.

The Fairyhouse New Year's Day postponed fixture has been re-scheduled for Sunday, and fresh declarations must be made this morning. Plans for a course inspection have yet to be announced.

In Britain, improved prospects at Musselburgh yesterday offered the hope of an end to jump racing's wipe-out tomorrow.

"The course has improved significantly today," said clerk of the course Mark Kershaw. "There is still some snow but it has been thawing all day and we couldn't abandon the meeting today.

"We want to give it every chance so there will be another inspection at mid-day tomorrow."

Today will be the sixth successive racing day in Britain without action on turf as all three fixtures were called off yesterday, as were three of tomorrow's jumps cards.

Clerk of the course Hugo Bevan described the decision to call off today's meeting at Towcester as "a formality".

It was a similar story at Lingfield and Sedgefield so Southwell's all-weather fixture will provide the day's only action.

Tomorrow's meetings at Sandown, Haydock and Warwick were called off yesterday. A total of 49 jumps meetings in Britain have now been lost during the cur rent season and 39 since Christmas.

Sandown clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: "There was no hope at all and we would not have been doing anyone any favours by calling another inspection tomorrow morning that would just have been delaying the inevitable."

At Haydock, clerk of the course Philip Arkwright admitted: "We didn't have an earthly chance. There is a lot of frost in the ground and a covering of snow to keep it there. There is no sign of an end to the cold weather - it's hopeless.

And Warwick racecourse manager Lisa Rowe revealed: "There is still nearly an inch of snow on the track, and no sign of it improving."

If Musselburgh fails to beat the elements all-weather racing will take centre stage again tomorrow and Lingfield has altered the off-times which means that television viewers will be able to see an extra race.

The first contest on a six-race card has been switched from 12.50 p.m. to 1.15 p.m., with remaining events to be run at half-hour intervals.

As a result, Channel 4, covering Lingfield for the first time since 1985, will be able to show each of the last five races live.

Off-times at Wolverhampton, whose "standby" all-weather meeting is likely to provide tomorrow's only other racing in Britain, have also been amended so as to dovetail better with Lingfield for betting-shop punters.

An extra seven meetings were added to the National Hunt programme yesterday as part of a British Horseracing Board package of relief designed to ease the impact of the spiralling list of fixture abandonments.

The fixtures, four in the north and three in the midlands, will be staged between January 14th and 28th, the first of them at Leicester.

The replacement fixtures are: Leicester, January 14th; Carlisle, January 20th, Market Rasen, January 21th; Wetherby, January 23rd; Uttoxeter, January 24th; Ayr, January 27th; Warwick, January 28th.