NEWS ROUND-UP:THE START of Leopardstown's Christmas festival is just 11 days away but already the difficulties of organising contingency plans if the weather interrupts racing are presenting themselves.

With Limerick and Down Royal also racing on St Stephen’s Day, and the Christmas and new year period being one of the busiest in the racing calendar, Leopardstown’s authorities are keeping their fingers crossed the weather will not upset any festive fun.

“It is very difficult with four days racing to put in place any contingency plans. December 30th is a blank day but apart from that it is difficult.

“There are so many permutations that we have to have a take it as it comes attitude,” the Leopardstown manager Tom Burke said yesterday.

Over half a foot of snow fell on Leopardstown last week but that has now cleared and Burke described ground conditions at the Foxrock coursed as soft.

Freezing conditions are forecast for the entire country over the weekend but prospects are unclear after that.

“Generally a four or five day forecast is pretty accurate but I find that anything after that is pure speculation,” Burke said.

“Like everywhere else we had a lot of snow at one stage but that is all clear now. It has left the track pretty soft.”

It is eight years since there was a cancellation at Leopardstown’s Christmas festival.

The second day of the festival was postponed to December 29th, with the original day four card abandoned.

In 2000 the third day, featuring the equivalent of the Lexus Chase, had to be cancelled due to frost and snow.

It was run on New Year’s Eve with the day four festival card abandoned that year.

Meanwhile, trainer Eddie Harty will hope for better Christmas fortune with Captain Cee Bee this year when the Grade One winner lines up at Leopardstown in 12 days time.

The former Cheltenham festival hero looked a likely winner of last year’s St Stephen’s Day feature at Leopardstown only to crash out at the last fence in the race eventually won by Sizing Europe.

This time he is set to be targeted at the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase over two miles after skipping today’s postponed two and a half mile John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown.

“It’s getting a bit close to Christmas now and I was a bit worried about running over two and a half on what could be very heavy ground,” Harty said yesterday.

“He will probably wait for the two mile at Leopardstown.”

That will mean a clash with the reigning two mile champion Big Zeb, who is due to have his second start of the campaign in the Dial-A-Bet. Ireland’s new Horse of the Year won the Fortria at Navan last month.

Captain Cee landed the Poplar Square Chase at Naas in late October on his seasonal debut and is currently as low as 7 to 1 third favourite in ante-post betting for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Master Minded currently heads the Cheltenham market with Big Zeb next best.