Weather sees racing festival cancelled

Inclement weather has led to the cancellation of what would have been the first two-day harness racing festival planned for Killarney, Co Kerry.

The event had been due to take place in the town’s racecourse on Sept 8-9, but the Killarney Race Company yesterday said it would not be going ahead because of the weather and the current condition of the track.

Irish Harness Racing Club chairman James O’Sullivan said there was “no blame” to the race company. He said he hoped to have talks with interested parties early in 2013, with a view to holding an event in Killarney next year.

A racecourse spokesman said the ground was soft yielding to soft in places, but the forecast for the next 10 days was for broken weather, with a significant improvement in ground conditions not expected.

Killarney is set to hold its four-day August racing festival from Aug 29 to Sept 1.

“Therefore, it would be difficult to visualise another 160 horses competing on the same ground less than seven days later,” the spokesman said.