RACING:CORK'S AUTHORITIES reckon the odds are in their favour for tomorrow's Group Three action despite the Mallow track having to pass a 1pm inspection this afternoon.
The course was coping with over an inch of rain yesterday and the prospect of more rainfall overnight. However, a 24-hour dry spell on the run-up to tomorrow’s Kerry Group Noblesse Stakes card is being banked on.
“We reckon 24 hours from Saturday afternoon will be enough for the track to absorb the water and dry out,” said manager Michael O’Neill yesterday.
“If the forecast is correct I’d say we have a 75 to 80 per cent chance of racing. It’s hard to be definite but the only thing that could stop us is if the river nearby bursts its banks. High-tide, though, was last week,” he added.
Should racing get the green light eight fillies are due to line up for the mile-and-a-half feature, including the soft-ground loving Sapphire.
Dermot Weld’s Finale Stakes winner takes on three Aidan O’Brien runners, including Gallinule runner-up Soon who is officially rated superior to her stable companion Betterbetterbetter.
The latter, though, was only beaten half a dozen lengths in the Epsom Oaks and handled soft ground before that at Chester. With Joseph O’Brien on duty in Paris, she can give local Colm O’Donoghue a valuable winner.
The former Group One victor Borderlescott is one of a trio of cross-channel sprinters in the Listed event but conditions could be testing enough to make Gossamer Seed’s return to five furlongs a winning one.
The grey’s Athasi win at the Curragh on soft ground was authoritative and she is a course and a distance winner from her juvenile days.
Six furlongs, even on a decent surface, is a tough ask for Possible, who can be opposed in the sprint handicap by the Curragh runner-up Battleroftheboyne, while Bold Thady Quill can defy a 6lb hike for winning at Naas.
Rock On Ciara overhauled Swerve in the closing stages at Listowel and could tough it out again in this evening’s Limerick feature. The form of Probably’s Curragh debut hasn’t worked out too well so far but David Wachman’s runner can score today.
