Wet weather takes its toll in Ireland as Gowran and Wexford cancel cards and Clonmel reschedules fixture

The wet winter is taking its toll in Ireland with Gowran Park cancelling a meeting eight days in advance.

The course's card on Wednesday, April 3 is not the only one to be affected, with Clonmel's fixture on Thursday pushed back a week due to a waterlogged track and Wexford's Wednesday card cancelled.

The meeting at Gowran was due to be the track's start to the Flat season, but an early decision was deemed necessary.

IHRB clerk of the course Paddy Graffin said: "Unfortunately we needed to make an early decision to cancel Gowran Park on Wednesday, April 3. Despite being over a week away, the track is not going to come right in time for Flat racing next week following a very wet winter and particularly this month. 

"There is also further rain to come between now and next Wednesday. We will talk with Horse Racing Ireland with a view to forming a plan for rescheduling the fixture in due course."

At Clonmel, clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer said: "Following 6mm of rain since declarations this morning and with the possibility of a further 10-12mm of rain up to and including race time on Thursday, the fixture on Thursday won't be going ahead due to a waterlogged track. The fixture will now take place on Thursday, April 4."

There will be fresh entries, which will close on Thursday, for the revised meeting which will be staged in the evening.

Wexford's Wednesday card was cancelled following a Tuesday morning inspection, with the track waterlogged and no prospect of conditions improving.

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