A horse crosses the fence in Fakenham | Racingfotos.com
The approach of Cyclone Eunice, which will affect Ireland and the UK on Friday, has prompted some racetracks to cancel their cards as a precaution. Fakenham was suspended on Thursday due to severe weather warnings, and the Irish Equestrian Board also canceled Dundalk’s Friday card. The storm is forecast to bring high winds and in some cases, snow.
“We discussed the situation with Jim Martin of Dundalk Stadium and Met Eireann this morning and again this afternoon and we feel with the current forecast for tomorrow it is necessary to make an early decision. and cancel the schedule,” said IHRB secretary of the field, Brendan Sheridan via Twitter. “Many parts of the country are subject to an orange and red Weather Warning in the morning that will make travel unsafe and the Met Eireann is also forecasting gusts of wind speeds in excess of 80 km/h during the day. race time.”
Kelso, one of three UK courses still set to race on Friday, will hold the test at 8am on Friday.
“We have only one yellow warning at the moment here and we’re not getting anything like the winds are decelerating in the UK,” said course secretary Matthew Taylor. “Our concern will be snow more than anything and possibly being able to reach the racecourse and surrounding areas overhead if it snows heavily. We’re in a tougher situation than most because it’s really just a waiting game.
“The problem is also that the forecast changes by the hour. We were supposed to get 10cm of snow and then this afternoon it turned to rain again so we don’t know exactly what we’ll get.”
“We’ve got an 8 a.m. check in so hopefully we can call soon.”
Lingfield and Southwell are both set to race on Thursday night, with Lingfield to be tested at 8am and Southwell, which will have winds of 60-70mph, to be tested at 10am.
Kirkland Tellwright, secretary of the course at Haydock, hopes Saturday that the storm has weakened before Saturday’s meeting of the course.
He said, “The main concern is the wind, that would be an issue on a race but shouldn’t be the day before. There will be a lot of damage to fix, no doubt. Saturday is expected to bring strong winds, gusts and more rain. Having walked a few times today, I’m pretty optimistic we’ll make it through.
“The hurdles course is very heavy, there are soft spots, and there are no bad spots. The chases are heavy, and very heavy in one or two places, so we’ll probably skip them. I’ve put the second fence straight back as a precaution because it gives us more options on how we get through that position. “
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This story was posted in Europe, News shared in Europe, Europe’s Top News and tagged Dundalk, Fakenham, Haydock, Irish, Kelso, Lingfield, severe weather, Southwell, Storm Eunice, UK, snow storm.
