Horse Racing: Inspection called for Wetherby on Thursday, Leopardstown abandons meeting
The much-awaited Wetherby’s meeting on Sunday is in jeopardy and an inspection has been called to discuss the prospects of the event that will be featuring the Grade III Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase. The parts of the course are
still reported to be frozen because of the snowfall that has victimized many other meetings in the country. If the track passes the inspection on Thursday, the meeting will get a go ahead.
According to the clerk of the course, Jonjo Sanderson, the inspection will begin at 1.30 p.m. on Thursday. Talking to the correspondents, he was reported as saying that the team covered the whole track on Thursday last week. He
added the temperatures through Sunday were -4C, -5C and -6C, but he was still optimistic about the event taking place.
He went on to say that the temperature went down to -10C on Sunday, meanwhile the temperature remained over -9C on Monday and Tuesday and that caused them trouble. He further added that they took a round of the track and observed
the ground conditions over and above the covers. He revealed that there are more frozen patches on the racecourse than he had expected.
Talking about the current weather conditions, he said that the Met Office has forecasted today’s lowest temperature to be -4C at night and will rise up to -1C in the day that will follow. Nonetheless, he said that the weather forecast
for Christmas has been revealed to be around -10C and that will for sure cause the Wetherby racecourse management a lot of trouble for their Sunday’s fixture.
Meanwhile the Sunday fixture for Leopardstown has also been postponed due to snow on the course. The meeting will now be taking place on the 30th of December. The decision was announced shortly before noon today because
the conditions of the track and the area do not seem to be improving in the upcoming days. The highlight event of Sunday’s card was the Grade I Bord na Mona with Nature Novice Chase. The Leopardstown meeting will spann over four days and will now be starting
on Monday; however, according to the spokesman of the Dublin Met Office, a thaw cannot be expected to start until Sunday or Monday. The meeting will be staging six Grade I races.
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