'It was very hard to see' - fog and poor visibility force Dundalk to abandon

Dundalk became the latest Irish course to fall victim to the weather, with Monday’s seven-race all-weather card abandoned after the first due to freezing fog and poor visibility.

Ciaran Murphy’s La Tulipe Noire (14-1) was the winner of the opening fillies' maiden, but jockeys soon reported poor visibility to the stewards, with the decision quickly taken to abandon the fixture.

“It’s very hard to see here”, winning rider Declan McDonogh told Racing TV.

“Lads were giving out that they didn’t see much. They couldn’t see anything. I was in front most of the way but the boys in behind couldn’t see a thing. It wasn’t great.”

“Everybody was happy to go ahead with racing today,” said clerk of the course, Lorcan Wyer. “The jockeys came to us and said their main concern was the freezing fog and the effect it was having on their goggles. Their visibility was really impaired. The stewards have made the decision.

“Everybody was on board, completely. There is a freezing fog warning in place and that remains in place for the day. Fog has thickened in the last half hour. Unfortunately, we are where we are.”

Racecourse manager and Dundalk chief executive, Jim Martin said it was “disappointing” to have to abandon the meeting but that it was an unprecedented situation.

“It was admission free today, the fog has come down and safety is paramount. I’ve never seen freezing fog before”, he said. “In all our years, we’ve lost one meeting to fog.”

Martin added there is no certainty whether or not the meeting will be rescheduled.

“HRI are discussing it now”, he outlined. “We may come back to it tomorrow. We’re scheduled to race on Wednesday and on Friday. There should be no issues with those two.”

Runners in the opener a Lingfield make their way through a wintry landscapeCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Wolverhampton finally gets go-ahead after third inspection

Monday evening's all-weather meeting at Wolverhampton had to survive three inspections before being given the go ahead.

Some snow remained but the track was raceable and the seven-race card got under way at 5.30pm.

Clerk of the course Fergus Cameron said: "We passed our third inspection and racing goes ahead. We've had assistance from Uttoxeter in order to get all of the equine areas cleared of snow.

"They're now safe to use and although there is snow still around, we had the support and I'm very grateful. It allowed us to focus on the track and we're ready for racing, which is good news."

Lingfield's afternoon card passed a morning inspection, officials holding a 7.30am inspection with a yellow weather warning for snow and freezing temperatures in the area, but the course was deemed raceable.

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