Irish punters face a blank week after today's scheduled meeting for Thurles and tomorrow's Gowran fixture were both abandoned yesterday. Thurles held a 9 a.m. inspection and the track was waterlogged. Shortly afterwards, Gowran was also found to be waterlogged. The next Irish racing scheduled is Leopardstown's Ladbroke meeting on Saturday.

Prospects for the resumption of turf racing at Ludlow today appear brighter following a muchneeded dry spell overnight.

No inspection is now planned for a meeting which had looked in serious jeopardy on Sunday due to the heavy rain and storms which have been sweeping Britain. Ludlow clerk of the course Bob Davies said yesterday: "We could race at the moment. All the surface water has gone from the course and the going is soft, heavy in places."

Tomorrow's turf meeting at Lingfield became another victim of the heavy rain when the fixture was called off following a 3.00 p.m. inspection yesterday.

Exeter will hold an inspection at 2.00 p.m. tomorrow to determine whether Friday's meeting can go ahead. Clerk of the course Nick Ansell said yesterday: "We remain waterlogged and unraceable.

"Since we raced on New Year's Day - the track was unraceable at the end of the day - there has been an average of three-quarters of an inch of rain per day and prospects for Friday are very poor."