One of the biggest racing crowds of the year is expected to be boosted next weekend by confirmation that the Fairyhouse Grand National meeting will be AP McCoy’s last Irish engagement before his retirement.

Grand Jesture and Gallant Oscar, second and third respectively behind The Druids Nephew at Cheltenham last week, have been installed as 10-1 joint-favourites with the sponsors for the €275,000 BoyleSports Irish Grand National after the weights were announced for the Fairyhouse feature on April 6.

Jezki, Hurricane Fly, Faugheen and More Of That all appear among a star-studded entry for the Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse on November 30.

The weights for Easter Monday’s Boylesports Irish Grand National are set to rise by 3lb after Fairyhouse manager Peter Roe confirmed yesterday that the Paul Webber-trainedCantlow was a definite traveller.

A heady combination of mud and mascara, glamour, glitz, and grass filled the air at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival yesterday.

Horse Racing Ireland has announced that the cancelled meeting at Thurles tomorrow will now be staged on Wednesday, February 13 to form a two-day fixture.

Fairyhouse report no problems as they build up to a top-class weekend of racing featuring three Grade Ones on Sunday.

Racing is praying for a respite from the wet weather ahead of a big weekend at Newbury and Newcastle.

This evening’s Flat meeting at Fairyhouse has been cancelled due to a waterlogged track.

Tomorrow evening’s Flat meeting at Fairyhouse has been cancelled due to a waterlogged track.

Jockey Jason Behan’s three-year ban handed out by the British Horseracing Authority has been reciprocated by the Turf Club after he failed to turn up at a hearing.

The first thing I must do is assure readers that Steps To Freedom is absolutely fine and I really just had a change of heart with regards to running him at Dundalk last night.

Officials at Fairyhouse will take another look at 8am ahead of tomorrow’s meeting after the course remained unfit for racing on Friday.

Caroline Gray is to leave her role as general manager of Fairyhouse racecourse.

JONJO O’NEILL’S Synchronised, the Welsh Grand National winner, heads a 51-strong list of initial acceptors for the €250,000 Ladbrokes’ Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday.

Paul Nolan is hoping See U Bob will see out the trip in the Ladbrokes Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday.

WILLIE MULLINS reports Hurricane Fly in good form ahead of his FRBHP Insurances Irish Champion Hurdle run on Sunday.

JUST about everyone was shocked when the attendance figures for Fairyhouse on Wednesday were revealed.

HURRICANE FLY confirmed Punchestown Festival superiority over Solwhit when beating his rival by a snug length and a half in the Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse yesterday.

FAIRYHOUSE was yesterday passed fit for racing and is set to house a spectacular programme tomorrow.

Fairyhouse finally look like staging their much rearranged multi Grade One meeting on Wednesday after the course was passed fit following an inspection.

AS expected Fairyhouse has fallen foul of the weather and it’s triple Grade 1 card scheduled for tomorrow has again been cancelled.

CORK, which is set to house a terrific card, is virtually certain to go ahead on Sunday.

FAIRYHOUSE bowed to the inevitable yesterday when cancelling its triple Grade 1 meeting due to be run tomorrow.

IT is looking increasingly likely that racing will not resume in Ireland until Friday night on the all-weather at Dundalk.

Tomorrow's big meeting at Fairyhouse has been cancelled with three inches of snow covering the track.

DUE to the adverse weather forecast for the weekend, with ground frosts predicted for both today and tomorrow, Horse Racing Ireland has agreed to a request from Fairyhouse Racecourse to transfer its fixture tomorrow to Thursday, December 2.

The Saturday card at Fairyhouse has been cancelled and moved to next Thursday in order to give Sunday’s big Grade One fixture the best chance of going ahead.

Fairyhouse’s acting racecourse manager Peter Roe has vowed to do everything in his power to ensure Sunday’s high-profile meeting goes ahead.

JOHNNY MURTAGH missed his two booked rides at Tipperary last night, having failed to arrive back from Heathrow in time.

THE decision of Horse Racing Ireland to downgrade Tipperary’s John James McManus Memorial Hurdle in October From a Grade One to a Grade Two has raised more than a few eyebrows.

TIPPERARY RACES are getting behind their provincial team by offering free admission to all Munster fans who wear their jersey to the races on Thursday.

AIDAN O’BRIEN and Jamie Spencer left the disappointment of Antonius Pius’ display in yesterday’s July Cup at Newmarket readily behind them when the exciting Excalibur proved far too good for his rivals in the Festival Race at Tipperary last night.

CHANCES are you didn’t even read it and, if you did, it probably passed over your head and meant very litle anyway.

DRINKERS in the Taoiseach’s favourite watering hole would have found added tax on the pint of plain a bit hard to swallow.

CHAMPION HURDLE favourite Davenport Milenium will not, after all, make his seasonal reappearance in the John James McManus Memorial Hurdle at Tipperary on Sunday.