Storm Brendan to hit Britain and Ireland as Lingfield calls Monday inspection

With Storm Brendan set to sweep across parts of Britain and Ireland, Lingfield has called an 8am inspection on Monday for its seven-race card with the going currently described as heavy, while Punchestown also holds a 7.45am inspection ahead of racing.

The GoingStick reading was 4.3 on Sunday morning but the course is currently raceable, with clerk of the course George Hill opting to hold the morning inspection to be on the safe side.

Hill said: "Some of the forecasters are saying mainly dry overnight, while some say we could have a few showers in the early hours of the morning. The precautionary [inspection] is literally that, to make sure we don’t get three or four millimetres which could put us in trouble.

"It's heavy ground and quite wet in a few areas, but it is raceable at the moment. It wouldn’t take an awful lot of rain to cause us problems but at the moment the forecast looks reasonably dry."

Yellow warnings have been put in place for western Britain and Ireland with the possibility of gales up to 80mph, but that is unlikely to have a significant impact on Lingfield’s meeting.

Hill added: "The wind is going to pick up quite a bit and we’ll have gusts of about 40mph in the middle of racing, but the main band of rain looks like it’s coming in at about 4.30pm after racing has finished."

While Lingfield is likely to be safe, the storm could have an impact on race meetings later in the week.

The going at Fairyhouse, who have a seven-race card set for Tuesday, is currently heavy, while Exeter is soft, heavy in places ahead of their fixture on the same afternoon. Both are within the boundaries of the yellow weather warnings.

Fixtures

Monday
Lingfield Heavy
Punchestown Soft
Southwell Standard
Wolverhampton Standard

Tuesday
Fairyhouse Heavy
Exeter Soft, heavy in places
Doncaster Soft, good to soft in places
Chelmsford Standard

Wednesday
Plumpton Soft (chase); Soft, heavy in places (hurdle)
Newbury Soft, good to soft in places
Southwell Standard
Wolverhampton Standard

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