Nicholls is hoping for warm spell

Paul Nicholls is desperate for winter to relent over the next few days in order to run his talented yet brittle chaser Young Devereaux in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot this weekend.

The late abandonment of Haydock on Saturday has been followed swiftly by the loss of Hereford and Wolverhampton's 'all-weather' meeting this afternoon, while Fontwell's hopes of racing today rested on an inspection.

Tomorrow's Sedgefield card has already succumbed to frost and snow. The cards at Leicester on Tuesday and Newbury on Wednesday are also under threat, and forecasters are predicting that cold winds will arrive to accompany the icy snap by mid-week.

Nicholls won Saturday's £120,000 prize with Call Equiname in 1999, when bad weather forced the race to be rerouted to Kempton, but the Ditcheat handler is hoping Young Devereaux can bid for a repeat without delays.

The ten-year-old has had a long history of leg trouble and was a leading fancy for last year's Victor Chandler only to be withdrawn when his problems resurfaced in the week leading up to the race.

A battling defeat of Seebald on his return to action in a handicap at Ascot last month proved that all the old ability was intact, and Nicholls reports that all has gone according to plan since.

"He hasn't been easy to train, but I had to get a run into him in December if he was going to go for the Victor Chandler and, touch wood, he's done plenty of work and been fine since," he said. He's got a four pound penalty for his Ascot win and will probably be just out of the handicap, but I'm not too bothered about that.

"The main thing is that we get him there in one piece. God willing, it will be different this year, and the softer the ground the better it will suit him."

Meanwhile, the onset of winter is of no consequence to Henrietta Knight's best jumpers, who are all set to be wrapped in cotton wool until the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The Gold Cup and King George hero Best Mate, along with the star two miler Edredon Bleu and the leading novice chaser Impek, are all likely to be given a break in order to peak again during the middle of March.