THE markets suggest day one of Dublin Racing Festival is OFF.
Paddy Power are 4-7 for racing to be canned on Saturday and 5-4 for it to go ahead.
Leopardstown was flooded earlier in the week before the water was drained – but yet more relentless rain has left the track needing to pass an inspection to go aheadCredit: Damien Storan
Sadly flooded parts of Leopardstown have been a familiar sight this week due to the torrential and constant rainCredit: Damien Storan
The star-studded meeting has a hurdles track that is currently unraceable after seven INCHES of rain flooded the venue.
A IHRB statement read: “Following 22mm of rain in last 24hrs (193mm in 14 days), @LeopardstownRC (Saturday/Sunday) is soft to heavy (Chase) & parts of the Hurdle track are unfit for racing.
“Possibility of a further 10-20mm (approx) into tomorrow. There will be an inspection at 2.30pm today (Friday).”
The Saturday card, where Galopin Des Champs will bid to win a fourth Irish Gold Cup, is sold out.
It means thousands of punters will be disappointed if bosses decide it’s not safe to race.
Paddy Power’s odds on the meeting going ahead on Saturday plummeted to 1-6 but have totally fli-flopped.
On the Betfair Exchange it’s 2.7 (7-4) to start, and 1.4 (2-5) not to go ahead.
Workers at the track, situated just outside Dublin, have done everything they can to make it safe.
Footage earlier this week , with swathes of the famous racecourse underwater.
A Herculean clean-up mission removed the saturated parts of the course within six-and-a-half hours.
But the rain has been utterly relentless since and Mother Nature is, at the moment, winning the battle.
One possible solution put forward by punters was to stage an all chase card on Saturday, with that track currently OK for racing.
That would, in theory, give the hurdles track an extra day to dry out before running an all hurdle card on Sunday – which would feature Lossiemouth vs Brighterdaysahead in the Irish Champion Hurdle.
The DRF has already been dealt one big blow with .
Owner to receive the call from Mullins telling him his Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner was not yet 100 per cent following a minor operation last year.
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