Welcome to Live View – Take the tour to learn more
Start Tour
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
if as its likely sandown and Wetherby are called off
Show More
Leopardstown switches Dublin festival race times in bid to beat the big freeze
Leopardstown is confident the Dublin Racing Festival will go ahead
By Matt Butler and Tony O'Hehir
UPDATED 8:04PM, JAN 31 2019
Leopardstown has taken extra precautions to protect this weekend's Grade 1 extravaganza from the threat of frost, moving Saturday's three chases – including Min's potential clash with Footpad in the Dublin Chase – to the end of the seven-race card.
The wave of frost has decimated British jumps cards this week but, while officials at Leopardstown are confident of beating the freeze, the course has made every effort to survive the wintry weather with the decision to reschedule made in case the frost forecast for Friday proves sharper than predicted.
The reshuffle means racing fans will not have to wait as long to see Apple's Jade with the Irish Champion Hurdle, the day-one highlight of the second edition of the Dublin Racing Festival, a meeting featuring eight Grade 1s and in excess of €1.8 million in prize-money, brought forward to accommodate the move.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Leopardstown chief executive Pat Keogh explained: “We’ve had no frost this week. The course is in very good condition – it has been perfectly raceable all week – and we're not expecting any frost tonight.
“However, frost is forecast for Friday night with temperatures dropping to -2 or 3C and we’ve amended Saturday’s running order as a precaution just in case it happens to get a few degrees colder.
“Deciding to run the three chases as the last three races on the card is a precaution – it will give us extra time for any frost there might be to come out of the ground on the chase course.
“We’re expecting Saturday to be sunny with temperatures of 3 or 4C, so we shouldn’t have an issue and we’re all set for the two-day festival – one of our most important fixtures of the year."
Sandown's feature meeting on Saturday remains in the balance with the course proving unraceable on Thursday.
There was no jumps racing in Britain on Wednesday and Thursday, a situation replicated on Friday with cards at Catterick and Chepstow cancelled, and Musselburgh's two-day weekend meeting has also been called off owing to the wintry conditions.
Sandown card remains in the balance as threat of more frost looms
Despite the testing conditions, clerk of the course Andrew Cooper has not given up hope of saving Saturday's valuable card, which features the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Chase.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Cooper said: "It's been a gradual improvement all day as temperatures have picked up from last night. We're touching about 4C now and that's as high as we're going to get. All the whiteness of the frost has gone, although there's a legacy of some degree of frost still in the ground.
Part of the track will not be covered on Thursday night in the hope the forecast snow moisture could aid a thaw.
"We're not lifting all of the covers, but we're lifting the covers on the shaded area in front of the stands, which is one of the areas where the degree of frost got through the covers.
"We reckon we have a protection up to about -4C, beyond that the covers don't give you protection.
"We're opening up that section of the course to receive tonight's snow, which in terms of quantities is forecast to only be about one or two centimetres.
"What we didn't want was to have heavier snowfall on covers, which makes them very heavy and difficult to shift and move, and would have kept in any frozen ground underneath the covers for a longer period. We've decided to lift them this afternoon and let the natural snow moisture hopefully assist – strangely enough – in a thaw.
Leopardstown is confident the Dublin Racing Festival will go ahead
By Matt Butler and Tony O'Hehir
UPDATED 8:04PM, JAN 31 2019
Leopardstown has taken extra precautions to protect this weekend's Grade 1 extravaganza from the threat of frost, moving Saturday's three chases – including Min's potential clash with Footpad in the Dublin Chase – to the end of the seven-race card.
The wave of frost has decimated British jumps cards this week but, while officials at Leopardstown are confident of beating the freeze, the course has made every effort to survive the wintry weather with the decision to reschedule made in case the frost forecast for Friday proves sharper than predicted.
The reshuffle means racing fans will not have to wait as long to see Apple's Jade with the Irish Champion Hurdle, the day-one highlight of the second edition of the Dublin Racing Festival, a meeting featuring eight Grade 1s and in excess of €1.8 million in prize-money, brought forward to accommodate the move.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Leopardstown chief executive Pat Keogh explained: “We’ve had no frost this week. The course is in very good condition – it has been perfectly raceable all week – and we're not expecting any frost tonight.
“However, frost is forecast for Friday night with temperatures dropping to -2 or 3C and we’ve amended Saturday’s running order as a precaution just in case it happens to get a few degrees colder.
“Deciding to run the three chases as the last three races on the card is a precaution – it will give us extra time for any frost there might be to come out of the ground on the chase course.
“We’re expecting Saturday to be sunny with temperatures of 3 or 4C, so we shouldn’t have an issue and we’re all set for the two-day festival – one of our most important fixtures of the year."
Sandown's feature meeting on Saturday remains in the balance with the course proving unraceable on Thursday.
There was no jumps racing in Britain on Wednesday and Thursday, a situation replicated on Friday with cards at Catterick and Chepstow cancelled, and Musselburgh's two-day weekend meeting has also been called off owing to the wintry conditions.
Sandown card remains in the balance as threat of more frost looms
Despite the testing conditions, clerk of the course Andrew Cooper has not given up hope of saving Saturday's valuable card, which features the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Chase.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Cooper said: "It's been a gradual improvement all day as temperatures have picked up from last night. We're touching about 4C now and that's as high as we're going to get. All the whiteness of the frost has gone, although there's a legacy of some degree of frost still in the ground.
Part of the track will not be covered on Thursday night in the hope the forecast snow moisture could aid a thaw.
"We're not lifting all of the covers, but we're lifting the covers on the shaded area in front of the stands, which is one of the areas where the degree of frost got through the covers.
"We reckon we have a protection up to about -4C, beyond that the covers don't give you protection.
"We're opening up that section of the course to receive tonight's snow, which in terms of quantities is forecast to only be about one or two centimetres.
"What we didn't want was to have heavier snowfall on covers, which makes them very heavy and difficult to shift and move, and would have kept in any frozen ground underneath the covers for a longer period. We've decided to lift them this afternoon and let the natural snow moisture hopefully assist – strangely enough – in a thaw.
Saturday
Lingfield (AW) Standard
Chelmsford (AW) Standard
Musselburgh Abandoned
Sandown Chase course: Good to soft, good in places. Hurdle course: Soft, good to soft in places. Now no frost in the ground, snow clearing and prospects good.
Wetherby Abandoned
Leopardstown Hurdle course: Good to yielding. Chase course: Good. Rain and sleet clearing on Thursday night and should be dry for the rest of the week and into the weekend. Temperatures remaining cold up to and including the weekend with frost at night. No concerns
Kempton (AW) Standard to Slow.
Lingfield (AW) Standard
Chelmsford (AW) Standard
Musselburgh Abandoned
Sandown Chase course: Good to soft, good in places. Hurdle course: Soft, good to soft in places. Now no frost in the ground, snow clearing and prospects good.
Wetherby Abandoned
Leopardstown Hurdle course: Good to yielding. Chase course: Good. Rain and sleet clearing on Thursday night and should be dry for the rest of the week and into the weekend. Temperatures remaining cold up to and including the weekend with frost at night. No concerns
Kempton (AW) Standard to Slow.
erm all weather dross or quality jumps from Leopardstown .....tricky one.
I won't be watching ant all weather , not on Saturday or ever.
I won't be watching ant all weather , not on Saturday or ever.
if they can show it now could they not show it anyway, given the quality of the racing ?
Massive effort by the team @Sandownpark to re-cover the shaded ground this afternoon now all frost and snow gone. Chase now Good to Soft, Soft places and Hurdle Soft, Heavy places. No inspection planned.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/latest/itv-racing-in-leopardstown-coup-with-three-saturday-races-set-to-be-shown-live/364406
Great news that Snooty and Nevison are going over to irritate Gary O'Brien. Presumably, Snooty is pulling rank when in fact O'Brien is the much better presenter and could surely cope perfectly well on his own. Nevison will as per usual add nothing.
Great news that Snooty and Nevison are going over to irritate Gary O'Brien. Presumably, Snooty is pulling rank when in fact O'Brien is the much better presenter and could surely cope perfectly well on his own. Nevison will as per usual add nothing.
Post Your Reply
Please login to post a reply.
Wonder
Instance ID: 13539