Weekend meets under threat

High-profile meetings in England and Ireland are at the mercy of the elements as heavy rain continues to sweep across the shores.

Prestigious cards at Haydock and Leopardstown hinge on 7am inspections as does Stratford's jumps programme while the fixture at Thirsk has been lost.

Haydock, due to feature the Group One Betfred Sprint Cup, will have to pass a 7am precautionary check if it is to get the go ahead.

Track conditions are currently described as heavy, soft in places but with further rain on the way, clerk of the course Kirkland Tellwright felt it prudent to take a look early in the morning.

"In order to keep people up to date with events, we have decided to call a precautionary inspection," said Tellwright.

Leopardstown are due to stage a bumper eight-race card featuring two Group One contests in the Tattersalls Millions Champion Stakes and the Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes.

However, the Dublin course is now soft after being hit by a deluge of rain on Friday and though it stopped, more rain is on the way.

General manager Tom Burke said: "We will have an inspection at 7am and we have had 45 millimetres of rain between 4am and 2pm.

"There are bits of casual water on the track but that wouldn't be unusual when you get so much rain in a short period of time.

"We had a similar experience before our last meeting and we raced fine.

"It stopped raining at around 2pm but there is a risk of further showers tonight, although they tell me it should not be as bad as what we've had.

"Most of the track is surprisingly in good condition so we will have to see what the night brings."

Should the track be unfit on Saturday, the card will be run on Sunday instead.

Officials at Thirsk were forced to abandon Saturday's meeting after the course failed a 3.30pm inspection.

The track has been hit by a significant amount of rain through the day, prompting clerk of the course Christopher Tetley to cancel the fixture.

The venue is also due to stage racing on Sunday, although that card is subject to a 3pm inspection on Saturday.

"We have been forced to abandon the meeting on Saturday and will check at 3pm tomorrow for Sunday," said a course spokesman.

"The course is partly waterlogged."

Stratford hope to stage Saturday's only National Hunt meeting but they too will be taking a look at 7am as the forecast is not promising.

Clerk of the course Stephen Lambert said: "We're fine, we're raceable at present and we've got a precautionary inspection because more rain is forecast."

No problems are expected at Saturday's two all-weather meetings at Kempton and Wolverhampton, though today's meeting at Catterick was a late casualty due to heavy and persistent rain.