Fairyhouse failed to pass a course inspection this morning and the fixture scheduled for New Years Day has been abandoned.
Speaking from the course this lunchtime, course manager Dick Sheil revealed. "Four of the eight fences on the chase track would have had to be bypassed while the hurdle track was completely unraceable. With the weather forecast for more rain over the rext 48 hours we had no choice but to call the meeting off early."
"We've had 45.2mm of rain here since Christmas Eve which is nearly two inches. In total for December so far we've had over 80mm of rain while in the same period last year just 25mm fell here," Sheil said.
The track is scheduled to stage three meetings before the big three-day Irish Grand National meeting which gets underway on Sunday 20th April 2003. The Powers Gold Label-sponsored big race takes place 24 hours later on Easter Monday.