MEETINGS ABANDONED:HIGH-PROFILE meetings here and in England are at the mercy of the elements as heavy rain continues to sweep across the shores.

Prestigious cards at Haydock and Leopardstown hinge on 7am inspections today as does Stratford's jumps programme, while the fixture at Thirsk has been lost.

Haydock, due to feature the Group One Betfred Sprint Cup, will have to pass a 7am precautionary check if it is to get the go ahead. Track conditions are currently described as heavy, soft in places but with further rain on the way, clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright felt it prudent to take a look early in the morning.

"In order to keep people up to date with events, we have decided to call a precautionary inspection," said Tellwright.

Leopardstown are due to stage a bumper eight-race card featuring two Group One contests in the Tattersalls Millions Champion Stakes and the Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes.

However, the Dublin course is now soft after being hit by a deluge of rain yesterday and though it stopped, more rain is on the way. Should the track be unfit today the card will be run tomorrow instead.

Officials at Thirsk were forced to abandon today's meeting after the course failed a 3.30pm inspection.

The track has been hit by a significant amount of rain through the day, prompting clerk of the course Christopher Tetley to cancel the fixture.

The venue is also due to stage racing tomorrow, although that card is subject to a 3pm inspection today.

Stratford hope to stage today's only National Hunt meeting but they too will be taking a look at 7am as the forecast is not promising. Clerk of the course Stephen Lambert said: "We're fine, we're raceable at present and we've got a precautionary inspection because more rain is forecast."

No problems are expected at today's two all-weather meetings at Kempton and Wolverhampton, though yesterday's meeting at Catterick was a late casualty due to heavy and persistent rain.