Hopes were high yesterday that Sandown will be able to stage its valuable televised card on Saturday. But it will have the British jumps stage to itself after yesterday's loss of the meetings at Haydock and Warwick. It will also be the first turf fixture to be staged since Musselburgh on Wednesday.

No inspection is planned for Sandown, from where Channel 4 are due to show four races including the Grade One Sun King of the Punters Tolworth Hurdle.

"Prospects are very good," said clerk of the course Andrew Cooper. "We would have been raceable today. There are one or two soft enough patches on the hurdles course but there is no problem at all on the chase course.

"The forecast is for it basically to be dry tomorrow and Saturday so you have to be quite positive."

At Haydock clerk of the course Philip Arkwright said: "We have had another 8mm of rain since 6.00 yesterday evening, more rain is forecast and parts of the course are waterlogged."

Warwick general manager Lisa Rowe reported: "We had a quarter of an inch of rain last night and the conditions are unraceable."

Today will be the second successive day without turf racing in Britain. Yesterday's sole surviving jumps card at Catterick was lost due to heavy and persistent rain from 6.30 a.m.

Today's fixture at Exeter was lost on Wednesday and Towcester followed suit yesterday morning.

All-weather tracks will keep the sport going, with Southwell staging a fixture today and Lingfield and Wolverhampton (evening) hosting cards tomorrow.

A total of 13 fixtures have been lost since last week.