Down Royal hopeful

THE DOWN Royal authorities are keeping their fingers crossed that tomorrow’s card can escape the grip of the current cold spell and keep racing’s bandwagon on the road.

Course manager Mike Todd reported that the track was raceable yesterday but there is uncertainty about what impact the weather will have today. “It’s a question of low temperatures and the possibility of snow. We are not sure if it is rain, sleet or snow that we will get so all we can do is tank on and see what happens,” he said.

“What’s encouraging is that we are being told things will warm up a bit on Wednesday morning, with temperatures up to four or five degrees,” Todd added.

Leopardstown was covered in snow yesterday but that is not expected to be a problem closer to Sunday’s triple Grade One Hennessy Gold Cup card.The Clonmel track was raceable yesterday which has increased hopes for racing going ahead on Thursday and last Saturday’s cancelled Fairyhouse card has been rescheduled to next Tuesday, February 10th. The original fixture was cancelled due to waterlogging.