Clonmel set for early morning inspection

Thursday's meeting at Clonmel is subject to a 7.30am inspection to decided whether or not racing can go ahead as planned, following heavy rain in Tipperary.

With the ground, currently sodden, further rain is forecast overnight and the meeting appears to be in the balance.

Lorcan Wyer, IHRB Clerk of the Course at Clonmel said: "Following a further 4mm of rain since declarations, the ground at Clonmel remains heavy. The track walks very testing and it will be very deep ground.

"That additional 4mm of rain brings us to 23mm of rainfall since entries last Thursday and prior to that we've had in the region of two inches of rain at Clonmel since the previous fixture here last month.

"The current forecast is for approximately 5mm of rain through tonight into noon tomorrow with it to ease from then and remain mainly dry thereafter.

"However, with that further rain forecast and the current extremely testing conditions, we will have a 7.30am inspection on Thursday morning to determine if the track is fit for racing."

In Britain, Friday's meeting at Ffos Las has been called off due to a waterlogged track.

Officials inspected the course on Wednesday morning and after heavy rain, the venue is not fit for action.

Thursday's fixtures at Newcastle and Leicester are also subject to inspections.

Newcastle will check conditions at 8am on raceday, with the course reported to be heavy with further rain expected, while Leicester inspect at 4.15pm on Wednesday with areas of waterlogging reported.