© Photo Healy Racing
The cold snap looks set to disrupt the National Hunt fixtures this weekend with the all-weather Flat action at Dundalk this evening the only Irish meeting sure to go ahead over the coming days.
Prospects for the meeting at Punchestown on Sunday appear particularly bleak with Clerk of the Course Brendan Sheridan reporting conditions to be currently unraceable and freezing temperatures to continue over the weekend.
Sheridan said, “Following overnight snow and severe frost, Punchestown is unraceable.
“With the forecast remaining very cold for the next few days and severe frost each night, we will have an official inspection at 12pm on Saturday in advance of racing on Sunday.”
The seven-race card at the County Kildare track features the Grade 1 John Dukan Memorial Punchestown Chase.
Navan will also hold an inspection at mid-day today ahead of a scheduled meeting tomorrow, while Sunday’s other fixture at Cork is also subject to an inspection although officials appear a lot more positive about racing going ahead at the southern venue.
Cork’s Clerk of the Course Val O’Connell reported yesterday: “The track is in great order with a real good covering of grass and the going is yielding to soft, soft in places. We’ve had a damp misty morning with the temperature around 5C.
“We have a fresh strip of ground on the hurdle track the full width of the hurdles and we also have fresh ground on the chase track with covers down on both sides of the fences.
“The forecast is for a little bit of frost for the next few nights with temperatures rising to 3C to 4C during the day.
“At the moment we are perfectly raceable but with the forecast for frost over the next few nights we will hold a precautionary inspection at noon on Saturday just to determine our situation going into Sunday.”
The Grade 2 Bar One Racing Hilly Way Chase is the highlight at Cork with a seven-race card set to commence at 12.15.
