It could be next week before there is an opportunity to run the cancelled Grade One John Durkan Chase programme at Punchestown.
Snow and freezing conditions meant the Sunday card had to be cancelled after a Saturday inspection. Officials are anxious to run the fixture as soon as possible before Christmas but it is proving problematic with no end to the cold spell in sight.
A new date is set to be announced on Monday although it could be next week, potentially either Monday or Tuesday (the 19th and 20th,) before racing will be possible there.
“We are keen to reschedule as soon as is practically possible,” a Punchestown spokesman said on Sunday. “We will liaise with the relevant bodies, HRI and the IHRB, as well as the Met Office and try to come up with a satisfactory situation.”
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Quite what the impact of staging a rescheduled Durkan so close to the Christmas action is hard to know, particularly in relation to any appearance by the Gold Cup favourite Galopin Des Champs who had been declared to run at the weekend.
Freezing conditions have also ruled out any jumps action in Britain on Monday.
Market Rasen and Plumpton were cancelled on Sunday, on the back of Saturday’s cards at Cheltenham and Doncaster also being called off. Tuesday’s Wincanton meeting has already been cancelled while Thursday’s Exeter card must survive an inspection on Tuesday.
There will be an 8am inspection on Monday to see if the following day’s Catterick card can go ahead.
In other news, Henry De Bromhead hasn’t ruled out skipping a Champion Hurdle defence with Honeysuckle and letting her try to again win the Mares’ hurdle at Cheltenham that she won in 2020.
The mare lost her unbeaten record at Fairyhouse in the Hatton’s Grace but has pleased the trainer with how she has emerged from that.
February’s Irish Champion Hurdle could be her next target although a Cheltenham objective afterwards is no longer clear-cut.
“We can look at the Mares’ Hurdle, that’s always another option. It would be very much in my mind. My job is to try to find the race I think she can win. If connections want to do something else, I’ll wholeheartedly do that as well, so we’ll see. That’s all a long way away and everybody has to get there. Let’s see how we go in the Irish Champion Hurdle,” De Bromhead said on Sunday.
