Fairyhouse and Carlisle fit to race

Leicester and Southwell forced to abandon meetings due to the cold weather.

Fairyhouse and Carlisle have been given the green light to race this afternoon, but the meetings at Leicester and Southwell have been lost to the cold weather.

Day two of the Fairyhouse Winter Festival, which features a trio of Grade One contests, has survived the threat of frost and a dense fog.

Clerk of the course Brendan Sheridan said: “The fog has lifted, even a little earlier than Met Eireann said it would, which is great.

“You can see the full length of the straight here now and you can also see right around Ballyhack.

“As you know, fog is a bit tricky and it can come and go, but at this point in time, we don’t envisage any more problems.

“We’re in a good place now and we’re all good to go.”

Sheridan had earlier reported on the IHRB Twitter site: “Thankfully, the frost didn’t set in overnight.

“The ground on both tracks is soft. We’ve a completely fresh hurdles and bumper track and we’ve seven or eight yards of fresh ground on the chase track.”

Parts of Cumbria were hit by heavy snowfall overnight but Carlisle passed an early-morning inspection, although racegoers have been warned to be careful on the surrounding roads.

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