Navan is switched

A rare racing blank in Ireland this weekend means that tomorrow's scheduled Navan meeting has been switched to next Saturday …

A rare racing blank in Ireland this weekend means that tomorrow's scheduled Navan meeting has been switched to next Saturday when it will clash with the Aintree Grand National.

The National date is usually left free in Ireland but the recent bad weather, that also ruled out a double fixture at Limerick this weekend, has resulted in a major reshuffle by Horse Racing Ireland.

A total of six new dates have been arranged including two additional meetings at Limerick (April 12th) and Thurles (April 21st). This weekend's Limerick cards have been switched to May 13th-14th and the Cork fixture lost on March 26th will now be run on June 10th.

Both Limerick and Navan were cancelled due to waterlogging. Joe Collins, clerk of the course at Navan, reported: "It's waterlogged and there's no way it would have been raceable by Sunday because there's more rain forecast."

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column