Bad weather news continues

With the whole of the U.K. and Ireland blanketed under snow, the outlook for N.H. racing for the next few days continues to look grim. Today´s meetings at Sandown and Exeter have long since been abandoned, while Ireland´s all-weather meeting at Dundalk has also been cancelled; the problem there - as at Lingfield yesterday- is not so much the condition of the track as the problems with the access roads.

However the meeting has been transferred to Sunday, and it is expected conditions tomorrow and then will be better. Tomorrow´s N.H. meetings at Sandown, Chepstow, Wetherby and Navan (Ireland) have all been cancelled. Sandown´s Tingle Creek Chase, one of the best 2 mile races of the season, will now be run at Cheltenham on Saturday week; while this is better than nothing, it is not ideal as the two tracks are totally different in character. A horse like the German-bred Twist Magic, for example, a real Sandown specialist, would probably have no chance at all at Cheltenhams much tougher track.

Sunday´s jumps meetings have already been called off, with the exception of Warwick, which is still doubtful. The big Punchestown meeting in Ireland will now be staged next Thursday (weather, of course, permitting). The forecast is for a slight improvement in the weather next week, but it will probably not be till the end of the week that we are back to a full programme of racing on turf. Prospects for the big Cheltenham meeting on Friday and Saturday however look quite bright.