Leopardstown's battle with the weather looks set to continue after a track spokesman yesterday admitted to being "concerned" about the outlook for Sunday's AIG Europe Champion Hurdle.
An overnight drop in temperatures to minus three degrees, and very little subsequent thaw, meant racing would not have been possible at the Foxrock racecourse yesterday. To make matters worse the cold snap is now forecast to last until well into the weekend.
"We had been told that things would warm up on Thursday or Friday but now it looks like it will linger into the weekend. We have to be concerned about that," said Leopardstown's racing manager Tom Burke yesterday.
Leopardstown's Christmas Festival was badly disrupted by the weather with a composite fixture eventually run off on New Year's Day and it was only with 50 minutes to spare that last Sunday's Pierse Hurdle card was run off on schedule after frost stayed in the ground until almost noon.
"We're getting some run but one plus is that the hurdles course for Sunday will have fresh ground and that's an obvious help. And the chase track hasn't had that much traffic on it really," said Burke.
However, he added: "There's no great thaw at the moment and most of the track wasn't raceable today. The forecast is for similarly low temperatures until Saturday anyway."
The Down Royal authorities, hoping to race on Friday, have even less time to play with but their track was raceable yesterday. However, the Down Royal manager, Michael Todd, admitted their chances are "borderline".
He said: "At the moment we're OK but if it dropped another couple of degrees at night we would have a problem. Things are supposed to warm up on Thursday or Friday but just a couple of degrees either way would make all the difference. Our last three meetings have been affected by the weather so we're due a wee bit of luck."
No problems are forecast for tomorrow's fixture at Tramore with a spokesperson saying: "We tend not to get the hard frosts they get inland."
One trainer hoping that Leopardstown's meeting will go ahead is Tony Martin whose promising novice chaser, Ross Moff, is due to have his second start over fences in a week in the Baileys Arkle Trophy.
After his easy success last weekend Ross Moff was cut to as low as 10 to 1 for Cheltenham's SunAlliance Chase but it's not certain yet if the horse will be aimed at the three mile race or the mile shorter Arkle at the March festival.
This Sunday's race will help to make up Martin's mind and with Conor O'Dwyer possibly being claimed for the Arthur Moore-trained Well Ridden, Adrian Maguire is being suggested as a possible replacement.
No rider has yet been confirmed for Stage Affair in Sunday's big race but Cashmans have cut the Dermot Weld trained runner to 5 to 1 for his scheduled clash with Istabraq.
Tote Ireland will not be operating a Tote betting service at Tramore tomorrow as a mark of respect to three employees who were tragically killed in a road accident on Sunday. Leo Jones, Graham Walsh and Kevin Masterson, employees of Autotote, died in a road accident while returning from work at Leopardstown races.
The current cold snap threatens to upset the British racing programme over the next few days. Today: Newcastle (abandoned), Huntingdon (inspection this morning 7.30). Tomorrow: Ludlow (inspection 1.0 p.m. today). Friday: Kelso (inspection 8.30 a.m. tomorrow).
