A LATE inspection has been called to decide whether Hereford Racecourse’s Christmas race day will go ahead.

Around 3,500 people are expected to attend the annual meeting on Saturday with 191 entrants set to compete for £70,000 prize money across seven races.

An inspection was due to take place at 8am this morning to decide whether it will go ahead.

However, a further inspection has been called at 8am tomorrow (Saturday) as parts of the track are still unraceable.

Not everybody is happy with the late inspection with racegoers and horse trainers travelling from across the country for the meeting which starts at 12.20pm.

Rachel Powell wrote on Twitter: “So everyone has to start traveling early for a possible day of no racing. Just great.”

On Wednesday there was four inches of snow on the course. The majority of that has melted and is now raceable, according to organisers.

"It's our biggest race meeting of the year and we are desperate to stage the meeting,” said executive director Rebecca Davies.

"However, the first thing is the safety of the race goers and horses and the financial situation comes second. There is an awful lot of infrastructure which we have to make sure is safe to hold the race meeting."