Racing:THIS EVENING'S scheduled meeting for Sligo was cancelled yesterday due to a waterlogged track. Persistent rain in the area left officials with no choice but to admit defeat.
Irish Turf Club press officer Cliff Noone said: “Parts of the course are waterlogged. They had really heavy rain yesterday morning and though it eased the damage had been done.
“It’s bright and dry today but more rain is forecast later.”
Killarney officials will inspect at 7.30am this morning to determine whether racing can take place tomorrow. The Co Kerry course raced last Wednesday and Friday but Thursday’s card was abandoned due to waterlogging.
The ground is currently soft, soft to heavy in places on the hurdle track. It is, however, heavy with unraceable patches on the chase track – and more rain is also expected.
A racecourse spokesman said: “They are taking a look at the ground tomorrow morning. We are currently soft to heavy.”
Bellewstown have rejigged their programme for this week’s August Festival in order to preserve their ground.
Several meetings at home have fallen by the wayside in recent days because of the wet weather and the picturesque Co Meath track has been another to struggle with waterlogging.
Kevin Coleman, Bellewstown’s secretary and manager, said: “We will have a Flat card on Wednesday and an all jumps card on the Thursday.
“Over the weekend it was looking like we might only be able to race on the Thursday.
“We are soft, heavy in places on both tracks and it has been drying up, but we still have our fingers crossed.
“There is a front coming in on Wednesday so we’ll have to watch our options but at the moment we’re happy to be racing on both days.”
Coleman is expecting a bumper crowd on the Thursday evening where the model Caprice has been booked to judge the ‘Most Appropriately Dressed Lady’ competition.
Meanwhile, as the countdown begins in earnest to the return of Kieren Fallon, the six-times champion jockey is considering the options for the scene of his eagerly-awaited comeback ride.
Fallon’s well-publicised problems should be replaced by headlines of a much better kind on Friday week, the date he begins the latest phase of an eventful career following an 18-month suspension imposed by the French authorities after he tested positive for a prohibited substance.
Catterick, Chepstow, plus the all-weather meetings at Lingfield and in the evening at Kempton, provide the fare on September 4th before bigger fixtures – and rides – come thick and fast.
“Unfortunately the meetings that we have are not the ones I would have chosen myself, we might have to go to Wales (Chepstow) and I haven’t ridden on the all-weather at Kempton yet, so that will be an unknown,” said Fallon.
“Catterick would really sharpen you up. I actually love riding around Catterick, it sharpens you up. You have to be on the ball.”
Fallon is anticipating some important engagements – almost as soon as the day he comes back to the saddle.
Mick Channon’s Youmzain, the horse he beat into second on Dylan Thomas when winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October 2007 – his last ride in public – could be one of them.
He went on: “That is another ambition – I want to win the Arc again if I can. I’ve had some offers, some good rides. Obviously it has been no secret about Youmzain, who has been placed twice. I have been asked if I could ride him (Baden-Baden in Germany on September 6th and then the Arc).”
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