Racing:Officials at Fairyhouse are optimistic of staging their meeting on Sunday after the Co Meath course passed an inspection today.
The recent arctic conditions wiped out the racing calendar but with the situation now a lot brighter Fairyhouse is gearing up for a return to action.
“I was delighted having walked the track this morning to find it raceable and our only concern at this stage is a band of rain that is forecast to come in on Friday night,” Fairyhouse’s general manager, Caroline Gray, said today
“Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to be dry and bright. Racing fans have truly been deprived of racing over the last number of weeks so I hope that the punters will turn out in large numbers on Sunday to celebrate a return to “business as usual” and witness a truly top class national hunt fixture”.
In England, Saturday’s National Hunt meeting at Kempton is subject to a further inspection at 7.30am tomorrow morning.
Although the track is still partially covered in snow, clerk of the course Barney Clifford is hopeful racing will go ahead if the forecast is correct.
Plans are in place to stage a replacement all-weather fixture at the track should the turf course not improve sufficiently.
“In terms of percentages I’d say we have around 50 per cent snow and 50 per cent grass,” said Clifford. “The temperature at the moment is 3.3 degrees and it has thawed out quite a lot.
“The forecast says it will get no lower than 2 degrees overnight and there is no frost in the ground at the moment. It has to improve again so we’ll look at 7.30am, but the forecast suggests we should be fine.”