RACING:GOWRAN PARK on Friday could see turf racing return to Ireland for the first time in a fortnight, but Fairyhouse need the Met Office to be spot on if they are to finally get their triple-Grade One card run off on Saturday.
The Winter Festival fixture was postponed for a third time yesterday with no chance of racing going ahead at Fairyhouse tomorrow after an inspection.
The meeting, featuring the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, was immediately switched to Saturday in a wholesale fixture reshuffle that also now sees the John Durkan Memorial Chase card at Punchestown moved from this Thursday to this day week.
Both Fairyhouse and Punchestown were under snow yesterday, with the latter’s rescheduling forcing the move of a Cork card back 24 hours to Monday.
In the event of a long-awaited thaw, the likely outcome is a glut of racing over the next week, although the Fairyhouse authorities need any thaw to come sooner rather than later.
“If the forecast is right, we should be okay, but I need all the balls to bounce correctly with no deviation,” Fairyhouse manager Peter Roe said yesterday.
“They are talking about a thaw starting on Wednesday evening, but I need six- or seven-degree temperatures through Thursday and Friday. If we get them, we’ll be grand,” he added.
In a worst-case scenario, Roe didn’t rule out yet another postponement of the prestigious programme that also includes the Drinmore Chase and the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle.
“Without wishing to be pessimistic, I think everyone realises there can be no guarantees about the Christmas festivals either,” he said.
“We still have six to eight inches of snow and we’re getting short of options. But if we got a bit of rain the snow would go in an hour and there would be no problem.”
Dundalk will race again tomorrow, at an earlier start of 2.30, and on Friday, but that afternoon could also see the return of jumping action at Gowran.
There was still a couple of inches of snow on the Kilkenny track yesterday, but manager Margaret Fogarty was relatively optimistic about the chances of racing going ahead.
“We haven’t been as badly hit here as those tracks on the east coast and I would say we are 50-50 to race on Friday.
“My big concern is Wednesday night. It’s supposed to get down to minus three. But during the day we are having a significant thaw.
“If I had an extra day after Wednesday I would be 100 per cent happy.
“As it is, even though everyone is making contingency plans, I think we might be the quickest to race,” she said.
Cork and Navan are scheduled to race on Sunday and, with the expected thaw, both venues should see a welcome return, with Clonmel expected to stage a meeting tomorrow week.
Today
Southwell: No problems anticipated.
Fontwell: Abandoned (frozen ground).
Lingfield: No problems anticipated.
Sedgefield: Abandoned (frozen ground).
Tomorrow
Fairyhouse: Rescheduled to Saturday. Dundalk: No problems anticipated.
Hexham: Cancelled (frozen track).
Kempton: No problems anticipated.
Lingfield: No problems anticipated.
Leicester: Abandoned (frozen track).
Thursday
Punchestown: Rescheduled to next Tuesday.
Huntingdon: 8am inspection tomorrow.
Kempton: No problems anticipated.
Ludlow: Abandoned (frozen track).
Taunton: Cancelled (frozen track).
Wolverhampton: starting at 1.45pm,
Friday
Dundalk: No problems anticipated.
Gowran: Track covered in snow but thaw expected. Frost the danger. Chances rated 50-50.
Cheltenham: Chase and hurdles courses covered. Officials optimistic.
Doncaster: Inspection at noon on
Wednesday.
Southwell: No problems anticipated.
Wolverhampton: No problems anticipated.
Saturday
Fairyhouse: Track covered in snow. Officials hopeful if forecast correct.
Cheltenham: As per Friday.
Doncaster: As per Friday.
Lingfield: No problems anticipated.
Southwell: No problems anticipated.
Wolverhampton: No problems anticipated.
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