Four-time Group One winner John Quinn's Malton-trained Highfield Princess to remain in training

The seven-year-old, Malton-trained speedster, memorably completed a Group One hat-trick in 2022 with wins in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, Nunthorpe at York and Flying Five Stakes before rounding off her campaign with a fourth-placed finish at the Breeders’ Cup.

Owner John Fairley sportingly elected to bring his pride and joy back for another season last year and was duly rewarded, as Highfield Princess was placed twice at Royal Ascot and blitzed her rivals at Goodwood before bagging a fourth Group One success in the Prix de l’Abbaye at ParisLongchamp.

She could only finish sixth on her most recent outing in Hong Kong, but while connections could quite easily have retired the daughter of Night Of Thunder for breeding purposes this year, Yorkshire’s Horse of the Year in 2022 will continue her racing career.

“Highfield Princess is going to stay in training this year and I’m delighted,” he told PA. “She retained her enthusiasm all year (last year) and keeps doing it. She won another Group One, was placed in three Group Ones and won a Group Two, so it’s not as if she had one outstanding run and four or five runs below par.

“She had one disappointing run in the Curragh when she slipped, apart from that she was second in the Duke of York, placed twice at Royal Ascot, fantastic at Glorious Goodwood, second in the Nunthorpe and put up a tremendous performance in the Abbaye.

“She ran creditably in Hong Kong from a wide draw and the owners have decided they’d like to race her again this year, which is great.”

While Highfield Princess is currently enjoying a well-earned break, Quinn has already started to formulate plans for her comeback.

He added: “She’s having a break now and will be back in (training) on February 1. I think she’ll kick off in the Duke of York again. It might be cold and snowy this morning, but it will soon come round, and then we’ll aim for Royal Ascot.”

Off the track, the cold weather is starting to bite into the fixture list.

Having lost numerous meetings over the past couple of months due to flooding and waterlogging, the icy conditions are now the issue.

Chepstow and Plumpton were both abandoned yesterday due to frozen ground.

Officials at Lingfield have admitted they will need “the best of the forecast” after calling an inspection for 8.30am today ahead of day one of the track’s Winter Million Festival on Friday.

The Surrey circuit is due to play host to a quality three-day fixture, with high-class jumps cards on Friday and Sunday sandwiching a morning all-weather meeting on Saturday.

The Grade Two Lightning Novices’ Chase and the £100,000 Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Hurdle are due to take place on Friday – but with parts of the track frozen on Tuesday afternoon and further sub-zero temperatures forecast, the card appears to be under serious threat.

“We got down to minus 7C last night and we have frost under the fleece that we used to cover the whole track on Saturday,” said clerk of the course Stephanie Wethered.

The current cold snap will have a major impact on the jumps racing programme across Britain and Ireland in the coming days.

Hopes of any racing over obstacles taking place today hinge on a precautionary 8am check at Southwell, with the team at Newbury making an early decision to draw stumps on yesterday afternoon ahead of their scheduled fixture.

Thursday’s meetings at Newcastle and Wincanton have already been called off, while Ludlow’s card on the same day is subject to an 8.30am precautionary inspection, also today.

Fairyhouse’s Thursday meeting, meanwhile, will have to pass a noon inspection on Wednesday.