Opening day of Fairyhouse's Irish Grand National meeting rescheduled for Tuesday

The opening day of Fairyhouse's Irish Grand National meeting has been rescheduled due to a waterlogged course.

Saturday's action was cancelled after 21mm of rain fell overnight, resulting in areas of the course being submerged in water.

Sunday’s card at Fairyhouse is subject to a 7.30am inspection tomorrow morning.

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has announced that Saturday's card will now take place on Tuesday 22nd April, making it the final day of three-day Festival.

Original entries for six of the seven races will stand, while The Rybo Handicap Hurdle reverts to after final forfeit stage. New declarations for all of the races now have a deadline of 10am on Sunday.

In response to the cancellation, Fairyhouse's general manager Peter Roe said: "The problem is the relentlessness of the rain and the fact that it is not due to stop until lunchtime. The ground where there is no surface water is soft to heavy. It's just the surface water on top that's causing the issue. We've had 30mm in the last 24 hours and we've had north of 50mm of rain in the last 48.

"The big problem is that it's not getting a chance to soak away as it's not stopping. If there had been a dry morning here, we probably would have been okay to race as it would have got a chance to soak in. Underneath the surface water there is a base there which is fine, we just needed it to stop raining.

"Am I confident we will be racing tomorrow [Sunday]? I'm as confident as I can be. I'd be pretty hopeful and when the rain stops it's going to stay dry until Monday."

The Irish Grand National is the headline act of the weekend and is still scheduled to take place on Easter Monday at 5pm.

Last year's winner Intense Raffels was withdrawn from the race following his disappointing effort at Aintree, while Cheltenham Festival winner Haiti Couleurs has emerged as a main contender in the betting.

Jaquob Crooke

• Fairyhouse Racecourse
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