Snow is forecast for some parts on Saturday. Freezing temperatures elsewhere and heavy rain may land on some racecourses tonight and on the day of racing.

It’s that time of the year. Race meetings are vulnerable to the changing weather and racecourse inspections will become the norm.

Predicting the weather is much more reliable these days thanks to the wonders of science. Predicting winners, as Friday proved, remains as much of a challenge as it was in the days when weather forecasts consisted of weathermen sticking adhesive signs on to a weather map.

These days the Met Office gets . . .

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Uhlan Bute was a welcome 5/1 winner on Wednesday.

One aspect all punters must have in mind right now is the ever drying ground conditions due to a general lack of rain across the UK this winter.

It means that several horses you see racing right now, including this weekend, have been winning or performing well on soft or heavy going. But now they face genuinely Good or Good to Soft ground. Some racecourses are watering to ensure the going is not too firm.

Before more severe cold weather arrives next week - and no doubt leads to some meetings . . .

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I'm currently writing the January newsletter which contains both good and bad news.

The good news being the annual profit for 2018. The bad news being my woeful performance last Saturday, when only 20/1 each way tip returned profit on finishing second behind a leniently handicapped opponent racing from a light weight.

Firing blanks happens so rarely that those days stick in my mind. The first thing I do is undertake my own post mortem. I watch back the races concerned. I look back at the form I studied before the races. I try to see where, if . . .

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I'm To Blame, a 6/4 tip the night before racing on Friday, won at SP odds of 5/6. So taking the early price was the best bet. Dares to Dream, the only other selection at Sedgefield, finished second.

We can all face traffic problems on the road and trainer Gary Moore and his stable staff had a nightmare on Friday when delayed getting horses to Huntingdon. It meant my only selection at that racecourse, Beat the Judge, never made it there.

Here's hoping all my selections make it to Kempton, Wetherby and Warwick tomorrow. There is . . .

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It was two winners from two selections at Taunton on Wednesday. Not That Fuisse justified my giving him one more chance by winning for us at odds of 9/4. The 8/15 tip Chef D'equipe also won for us at a shorter SP price. Up at Doncaster we had one non runner and one runner up.

Some days, when studying form, you are blessed with quality races to delve into and I get excited by what is on offer and the challenge of finding a profitable punt.

On other days, it can be like pulling teeth and I . . .

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No sooner was I about to place my first ante-post bet for the Cheltenham Festival next March, than connections of Master Dino - a very impressive winner at Plumpton last week - revealed he picked up an injury, has had an operation and will be out of racing for a year. What a pity. I hope Master Dino will recover full fitness in due course.

Our winner last Saturday, Elixir de Nutz, continues to impress. That was a third successive win from that one for members of VG Tips this season. The Colin Tizzard trained gelding will likely be aimed at . . .

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