Final day of National Coursing meeting postponed to next Sunday
Freezing temperatures overnight and no significant uplift in the early part of the morning meant officials at Clonmel had no choice but to concede to the conditions. A decision was made to postpone the meeting until next Sunday morning, when the action will get underway at 11.30am.
Irish Coursing Club CEO DJ Histon explained: “The reason we couldn’t go ahead with coursing is because we were on to the Met Office but could get no clear indication when sun was going to break through the cloud cover.
“Temperatures reached minus four overnight and it was the second night in a row of frost. Had the sun broken through early in the morning we could have delayed the decision, but that wasn’t the case.
“We didn’t want a situation where owners and trainers were hanging around with their dogs and not knowing what was going to happen. Postponing the meeting was the practical response.
“Given the forecast for the next few days and the fact we want to give people a chance to attend without having to take another day off work, we thought switching to Sunday was the right decision.
“Sometimes you just need to be patient and we hope we’ll get the reward for that with a terrific closing day to the meeting. We hope people will turn up in numbers on Sunday to see the conclusion to what have been great classics.”
The postponement at Powerstown looked ominous when the greyhound action scheduled for Sunday night - one of the biggest nights of the year at Clonmel Greyhound Stadium – fell foul of the weather.
It is hoped, pending permission of the Irish Greyhound Board, the meeting, which features the final of the Red Mills and Track Supporters’ Club Open Unraced Stake, will go ahead on Saturday night.
