Glimmer of light at the end of freezing tunnel

RACING NEWS:THERE COULD be some racing light at the end of the freezing tunnel later this week with Thurles described as having a "definite chance" of some long-awaited action.

The Co Tipperary track is due to race on both Thursday and Friday this week and manager Pierce Molony is hopeful of action going ahead at some stage despite there being an inch and a half of snow lying on the course yesterday.

“It has been plus four degrees Celsius here today but it has made no difference to what’s lying there. But there is rain forecast and that could improve things. Normally rain on top of snow wouldn’t be ideal, but it would help vis-a-vis frost,” he said.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to race Thursday-Friday but we could end up looking towards maybe Friday-Saturday if we can re-schedule, put everything back by 24 hours,” he added.

Rain could also end up being a problem for the Saturday meeting at Naas where up to four inches of snow was lying on the track yesterday.

“We could go from being snow covered to being flooded very quickly,” said manager Tom Ryan. “If the snow was gone by Wednesday afternoon, all we would need are a couple of dry days for things to soak away. But the forecast is for bands of rain through the week.”

Fairyhouse is due to race on Sunday but are taking things “day by day.” Manager Caroline Gray said: “We are due to get an inch of rain on Tuesday which might get rid of the snow but will leave things very wet.”

In Britain, the first chance of National Hunt racing resuming is Catterick on Thursday. An inspection will take place at the Yorkshire track tomorrow.

Kempton will also inspect tomorrow ahead of Saturday’s planned jumps card. Thursday’s scheduled Towcester meeting was cancelled yesterday, leaving the all-weather tracks continuing to have the spotlight to themselves.