The first of Cork’s three-day meeting takes place this afternoon, and Sr Carthage can make the most of the conditions to take the valuable Cork Handicap for Jim Bolger.

“We’ll leave Kerry happy now,” said in-form trainer Willie McCreery, following the victory of Fact Or Folklore in the featured Guinness Premier Handicap on day four of the Listowel Festival.

“With the year I’ve had this is very special,” said trainer Mouse Morris after watching Rogue Angel battle back bravely to snatch victory in the Guinness Kerry National, when the Listowel Harvest Festival resumed yesterday afternoon.

The Christian Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria was killed today when an army helicopter that was transporting him and his entourage to a monastic enclave in northern Greece crashed in the sea, government and church officials said.