Killarney's chances of racing look very slim

A 7.00 inspection this morning will decide if today's card at Killarney goes ahead but the prospects look grim in the extreme following the abandonment of last night's meeting.

The plug was pulled on that an hour before the scheduled 5.00 p.m. start after torential afternoon rain had waterlogged the track. Only the prospect of racing on fresh ground had allowed any hope of a reprieve.

"We've had heavy rain since noon and the track is now waterlogged," said the clerk of the course Peter McGouran who announced the decision to abandon the meeting after consulting with the Turf Club Chief Executive Cahir O'Sullivan.

That was made necessary because none of the five acting stewards were reportedly present at the racecourse one hour before the official start time.

Cahir O'Sullivan said: "Peter McGouran rang me in the absence of the chairman and deputy chairman (of the acting stewards) and I made the decision based on what he told me. I would regret the late notice. I'd have to say the acting stewards should have been there one hour before the first race but they were not. Maybe they were caught in traffic."

This is not the first time the weather has played havoc with a Killarney fixture. In 1992, the four-day festival was reduced to only one race, again through waterlogging.

If racing does in fact get a green light this morning, then Common Currency could be one to consider in the opener following a fourth to Huntmore at Dundalk on Friday.

Aidan O'Brien's Maltesse, a Limerick apprentice race winner last year, could overcome an 11-month absence from the track to score in the next and Crown Brief looks the one in the Vintners Handicap.

Daylami will attempt to become the first horse to win the Tattersalls Gold Cup - now a Group One race - at the Curragh in successive years since Yankee Gold in 1976 and 1977 when the race was known as the Ballymoss Stakes. "We plan to start at the Curragh on Sunday week as we did last year," said Simon Crisford, racing manager for Godolphin. Daylami went on to win the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown and the Man O'War at Belmont Park, New York.

Lester Piggott yesterday put his signature to a time capsule containing racing memorabilia which was buried on the site of Newmarket's £16 million Millennium Grandstand, due to be completed next April. Racing plates worn by classic winners Island Sands and Wince were among other items placed in a casket which will be covered by a plaque bearing an engraving of Piggott's autograph.